Fight or Flight
by CCKJ
Summary: Everyone has questions they want answered. Everyone has secrets. Everyone has a side of the story. This is it... Chapter 29: From The Top, is up! Please Review!
1. New Arrivals

Chapter 1: New Arrivals

Max POV

I woke up abruptly. I was having a dream, a nightmare really, about the flock being free, free from this place, never having to worry about it. That was never going to happen now.

We were at School, but not the normal school where you learn geography and maths. The kind of school where they lock you in dog cages, experimenting on you, genetically engineer wings onto you. Oh yeah, did I mention we have wings? Great big 18 foot wings. Feathers and all!

They, the whitecoats, made us like this. Kidnapping us when we were young, genetically engineering us to be Part-Human, Part-Bird.

By "us" I mean the flock, our makeshift family. There's Angel, the youngest. She's 6 years old, long blonde curly hair, cute as a button, and never ceases to amaze me. I swear she's discovering a new power every other day. She looks a lot like her brother, The Gasman, named so for his annoying habit of passing wind, but we just call him Gazzy and they're the only ones out of us who are actually related. He's 8 but quite mature for his age, has short hair, and is the groups' prankster. We think the bird part of him was Parrot, as he has the uncanny ability to mimic almost any sound he hears. Then there is Nudge, aged 11, dark skinned, a little princess, and a whizz when it comes to computers of any kind. Iggy, who's 14, is blind, but makes up for it in touch and hearing, seems to have a fetish for bomb making, something him and Gazzy do avidly and is the tallest of the group. There's Fang, 14 too, who is calm and collected He has an Icy demeanour, long brown hair, and olive skin. And then there's me, Max. I'm 14 as well, the leader of the group, tallish, reddish-blonde hair and am supposed to save the world. Well, I did, but that's a long story.

I looked at the flock, all asleep, locked in their separate cages. I have to get them out of here. Its bad enough we spent most of our childhood here and escaped, but the fact that they re-captured us, stuck us back in here, doing experiment after experiment on us. It's not fair on the flock. Let alone me.

Iggy suddenly bolted up. In the Dim light, I could see his eyes were wide open, not that it made a difference. "Someone's coming!" He exclaimed. This woke up the rest of the flock, and we all listened out for footsteps, but it was a few seconds before we heard them. They got closer, and stopped outside the door. We all stared at the door, anticipating one of us being taken for testing.

The door opened, the light turned up, but our eyes adjusted quickly. In came a whitecoat, one of our captors, dragging an body behind him. We all looked in amazement as the whitecoat opened an empty cage across the room and threw the person in. He locked the cage and walked out without looking at any of us.

The someone was a boy, around my age. He was breathing, which was a good sign had unkempt longish brown hair, a few scars on his face, possibly from run of the mill injuries, more likely from Erasers, was quite dirty, and was thin and lanky. But the most intriguing thing about him was the large, brownish gold wings, sticking out his back...

Fang POV

"Someone's coming!" Iggy shouted. My eyes snapped open. I listened out, but nothing for a few seconds till I heard footsteps. I looked around at the flock, which had all been woken up as well, and were staring at the door. Then a whitecoat walked in.

He was dragging an unconscious boy behind him. The boy was thrown in the cage opposite and locked in. I noticed large wings protruding from the boys back. The boy had to be at least 14, probably more. With his messy hair, scars, and dirty face, he looked like he'd been through a lot.

There was a long period of silence from the flock. We were just staring at him, waiting for something to happen. Then Iggy said "So is anyone going to tell me what the hell just happened, or am I supposed to guess?"

"One of the whitecoats just bought in a boy and locked him in a cage..." Max broke off.

"And...?" Iggy queried. Silence, until-

"He has wings." plucked up Angel. Iggy was silent. We had never met anyone else remotely like us, unless you count Erasers, which we don't.

"Who do you think he is?" I asked.

"I'm not sure" Max replied. "Angel, can you pick anything up?"

Angel, concentrating, closed her eyes. She can read minds, just one of her amazing abilities. "Nope" she said. "Only some dream bout the sea. He's out."

"So what do we do?" Nudge piped in. "Should we try to wake him up?"

"Yeah, I could throw some water over him?" Gazzy said. "I'm sure I could reach him!"

"No, we wait for him to wake up on his own" Max said confidently. "Then we'll ask him some questions. Until then I say we take it in shifts to keep watch on him. It might be a trick."

"I dunno, those wings look pretty real to me." Nudge said, peering over at the boy.

"Yeah, well either way, he could still be dangerous." I replied. "I'll take first shift. If that's ok with you?" I asked Max.

"Sure that's fine, I didn't sleep anyway, I should get some." She said sleepily.

"I got second." Iggy said.

"Ok then. See you in a few hours."

After about 2 hours, I was getting restless. I was pacing the small cage, going round in circles. My mind was racing with possibilities of who this is. Could it be a trap, a pan to infiltrate us, some kind of way to get in our heads? Maybe he was an Eraser in disguise. Maybe, there was nothing wrong; he was like us, another attempt at some kind of superhuman.

Then he started to rouse.

"Hey! Guys! He's waking up." I said to the sleeping flock.

They all sat up immediately, I don't think any of them were actually asleep.

The boy started to open his eyes and looked around. Then he saw us, and blinked, looked around some more, and realised where he was. He looked scared. He stood up, and started looking around, rattling the bars frantically, trying to look for a way out. He started shouting, and screaming as he shook the bars harder, and louder.

"Hey calm down! You'll have the whitecoats back!" I called to him. He looked at me and then sat down in the corner of the cage and held his knees up to his chest, protectively.

"Who are you people? What's going on!?" He shouted

"I'm Max, this is the flock. Who are you, what's your name?" Max asked.

"My name?" he replied. "My name's Will. Where the hell am I?!"

Max POV

"I'm Max, this is the flock." I replied calmly, gesturing to them. "Who are you, what's your name?".

"My name?" he asked angrily. "My name's Will. Where the hell am I?!"

"Calm down, you're at a place called the school, it's an engineering facility." I told him.

"Engineering? What's that mean? Like a steelworks or what?"He asked confused.

"No, not that kind of engineering. The other kind." Fang said quietly, looking down. "The kind where they mess with your DNA and turn you into something that isn't human."

"Ok, that make's no sense." He mused. Then his eyes widened, as if he realised or remembered something. "Where the hell is Emily!? Where is she?! TELL ME WHERE SHE IS!"

"Whoa, calm down or you'll have the whole place down on us!" I shouted at him. " Now lets start from the beginning. I'm Max, and this is my flock. Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel. Who's Emily?"

"Like you don't know!" He cried. "She's my Sister! Where is she? I know it was you who took her! I saw your wings!" He shouted at us. Then he took a step back. "Holy hell, you have wings!" he said shocked.

"Join the club." Gazzy sniggered.

"Gazzy!" I said angrily. "This is hardly a laughing matter!"

"What, what do mean?" He asked worriedly.

"Look behind you dude." Iggy said quietly. Will turned his head and saw the wings on either side of him.

"Oh crap. What the hell are those?!" he whispered wide eyed to himself. "Ok this is obviously a dream then." He said, sounding like he was trying to convince himself. "I mean I have wings of course it's a dream."

"It's not a dream" Fang said roughly to him. "Believe me, we've been through what you're going through and let me tell you it, isn't a dream."

"Well then what the hell is going on then? Where is Emily?!" He shouted again.

"Do you really think we took her? We're locked up here too you know!" I shouted back. He looked at me angrily then stood up and started to shake the bars.

"LET ME OUT!!!" he screamed. "I SAID LET ME OUT!!!"

"Quiet!" hissed Iggy. "They'll hear you!" The little ones were looking scared now.

"I want them to hear." He snarled back. "LET ME OUT NOW!!!"

"Someone's coming!" said Angel. Everyone as quiet then we heard someone outside the door. It opened and in walked Ari, in full blown Eraser form, Tall, covered in scraggly fur, almost like a Wolf.

"Hello Will." he smiled evilly. "We've got someone here for you."

A small girl walked in, who looked as if she had been crying for a long time and looked absolutely petrified.

"Emily!"


	2. Sleep Talk

Chapter 2: Sleep Talk

Will POV

"Ok I'll see you tomorrow!" I called.

"Yeah tomorrow! See ya Will!" They called back.

I was just getting back from a party, celebrating the end of GCSEs. Unfortunately someone called the police on us and we had to split. Fast! I had had a couple of drinks but was fine. Hopefully my parents won't notice. Hopefully.

I fumbled with the key as I was putting it in the door. I walked in to see my father, sitting at the bottom of the stairs, staring at me angrily. Crap, what I do?

"Where have you been?" he asked loudly. "You were supposed to baby-sit!" Crap!

"I was out." I said innocently. "Celebrating, you know. No more exams. Start of summer holidays, no more school and all that..." My father looked at me suspiciously. Then his body relaxed.

"Well I suppose that is a good enough excuse." He said quietly. "But next time you say you are going to baby-sit, don't go and make other plans ok?"

"Ok, but you knew my Exams were finished, you think I would stay in and baby-sit and not go out and celebrate?" I smiled.

"I suppose." He mumbled. I loved proving my dad wrong, he was hardly ever wrong. "In that case I suppose I should give you this." He stood up and pulled his wallet out of his pocket, and handed me some notes from it.

"Whoa, Dad this is like £50!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, err, congratulations and, yeah, just don't waste it all in a day ok?" he said, smiling. My dad was alright actually. Just wish I could have a bit more freedom.

"Is Emily still up?" I asked.

"Yes" My father replied. "You know she won't go to bed till she's seen you. She's in her room waiting"

Emily is my little sister. She's only 2 but she was pretty damn smart for a 2 year old. She was starting to talk before she was 1 and could count to 10 by the time she was 18 months.

I went up the stairs and into her room. "Will!" She cried happily, "Read me this!" she said holding up a Winnie the Pooh book. Her favourite. I laid her down in her cot and sat on the chair next to it and began to read.

Will POV

"Someone's coming!" the little one said, Angel I think her name was. We were all quiet then we heard someone outside the door. It opened and in walked a Werewolf. At least it looked like a werewolf. It had claws, snout, sharp teeth and... Wings?

It had wings too! Not bird wings like ours, but wings like bats' wings, leathery, and hairy. They were quite misshapen and looked damaged.

"Hello Will" the Werewolf smiled evilly. "We've got someone here for you."

In walked a small girl who you could tell was scared for her life and had been crying. My sister.

"Emily!" I Cried. "Emily!"

"Will!" She came over and tried to hug me through the bars. I tried to hug her back but it was awkward. I could see Max looking over at us then at the werewolf.

I felt something on her back as I was hugging her. Soft, and silky to the touch. I ran my hands over them and realised what they were. Wings! They'd put them on her too!

"What have you done to us?" I shouted at the Werewolf.

"Nothing worse than what we could do to you! Now shut up!" He roared.

"What's going on Ari?!" Max shouted. "Tell us!"

"Well seeing as you asked so nicely." He grinned evilly. "These here are the latest additions to your little 'Flock', as you so amply named it" He grinned evilly.

"You won't get away with this you know!" I said. "Our parents will be looking for us! Your going to go to prison for a long time!" The Werewolf, Ari, just grinned even wider.

"They won't be looking for you anymore. It's been 6 months since we took you." There's that grin again.

"You're not a very good actor you know? Of course they'll be looking for us, you took us out of our home, our parents will realise we're gone and call the police! I've watched CSI they'll find out who you are and where you took us like that!" I retorted, snapping my fingers."Why would they stop looking for us!?"

"We thought you'd disagree" he said slyly. He pulled a newspaper out of his back pocket. His jeans were ripped and torn, like the Hulk's clothes. He held it up so I could read the date. December 27th! But it was mid-June when they took us!

"What, you think I've never heard of Photoshop?" I said, trying to convince myself more than him. "Anyone can change something like that on a computer!"

"No that's about the right date" said Max. ""We were captured late August. That date seems about right..."

I looked from her, to Ari, to the newspaper, to Emily, who was still trying to hug me through the bars.

"Come on" said Ari, grinning yet again. "Well it's about time we got going. Places to go, people to see. You know how it is." He put his claws on Emily's shoulder and yanked her out of my grip.

"No!" we cried in unison. "No let her stay! Leave her alone!" I cried as they walked out the door and it was closed behind them. "Don't hurt her! PLEASE!" But they were already gone.

Ari POV

I could see him through the window, reading to his little sister. The parents were in the lounge watching TV. Perfect. We'd be in and out in less than two minutes and they'd be none the wiser.

I saw the boy put down the book, look down at his sister and sneak out the room. This was it.

"Right" I said to the 5 others on the roof, "Move!" We morphed into our Eraser forms, groaning as we did. It was a pretty painful experience, but necessary if we were get them. We unfurled our newly grown wings, jumped off the roof and glided onto the roof of their house.

"Ok everyone, not a noise. We go inside in 5 minutes, we get in, and we get out, if the parents get in the way, we kill them, but the kids must be caught alive! Do you hear me? Alive! The parents are expendable. Understand?" They all nodded their heads, as we moved towards the back of the house, on top of the boy's room.

I heard him come into his room and open one of his windows. He was heavy footed, as if he'd had something to drink. He was making this too easy for us.

I climbed onto his window sill, and saw him go under the covers of his bed. Time to go in.

Fang POV

"What do you think then? Do you think he's genuine? Because if not he's a damn good actor." I whispered to the others.

"No he's genuine." said Angel. "I read his mind when Ari came. He doesn't know anything."

Will was asleep in his cage. After Ari had left he was screaming for hours. Shouting insults and threats, pleading with them, begging them to let him and sister go. But they couldn't hear. Eventually he wore himself out and fell asleep. We had waited till we were sure he was fast asleep till we talked.

"What do we do?" I asked Max. Hopefully she would have thought of something by now. There was a long pause.

"I think we should help him." She replied finally.

"Are you crazy?!" I hissed.

"Fang's right, what do you mean help him? We don't know anything about him!" Iggy whispered.

"We know he was taken away from his family, experimented on, given wings! He's in it just as much as us. This isn't his fault. It's not liked he asked for this. Just because he's not familiar, doesn't mean he's not one of us." She retorted. No-one said anything. "Besides, maybe he can help us escape. Couldn't hurt to have him help us escape at least."

"I think we should help him too." Gazzy piped in. "I mean if Angel said he's genuine I've got not to believe that."

"Nudge?" Max asked.

"Yeah, same as Gazzy, he seems genuine, plus Angel says so." She said quietly.

"What do you think Fang?" Max asked me. I said nothing for a while. I was unsure of what to think, he could have had his memory wiped by the whitecoats, and be set to go off like a bomb. We know the whitecoats had done stuff like this before, but on the other hand he could be genuine. Finally I said, "I think we should help him, but not trust him yet. Have someone keep watch on him. Make sure he isn't a mole"

"Ok then, majority rule. We help him for now." Max said.

"Well, I think your making a mistake..." Iggy said. I wanted to say I agreed with him but I said nothing. Max was right. It couldn't hurt to have another pair of wings on the team, even if it is temporary. But something about him said I shouldn't trust him. How could he have 6 months missing from his life? Something must have happened to him in that time. I shouldn't trust him. Not yet...

Will POV

I closed the book and looked down at her. She was sound asleep. I picked her up and lifted her into her cot. "Goodnight Emily." I whispered as I walked out the room and closed the door quietly behind me, being sure not to wake her up.

I walked down the hall and into my room. It was only now that I realised how tired I was. I turned off the light and fell on the bed, with my clothes still on. I was going to have a wash, but that could wait till morning. Instead I pulled the covers over me.

I was starting to drop off when I heard something at the window. I ignored it, but a few seconds later, I heard the crash of glass. I poked my head out of the duvet and saw them. At first just figures in the dim light, but as my eyes adjusted I saw they looked bulkier, and ore animal like. They looked hairy, misshapen, and from what I could tell, they were wolves. At least four of them, with wings none-the-less! Was this a dream? I must have been a lot more tired than I thought. Then one of them lunged towards me, and grabbed me. I was about to scream, but it covered my mouth and stuck a needle in my neck.

My vision started to blur immediately. I saw some of them leave my door, and heard Emily crying. I could hear my parents shouting, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. I heard a roar, and a loud crash.

My vision left me completely, and all that was left, was darkness.

Iggy POV

I was on watch, or at least listen. It had been at least 4 hours since I started my shift, and thought about waking one of them to relieve me, but they were all so tired, after the commotion of today, I thought I'd just let them sleep. I could hear their breathing, it was slow and regular. Also Gazzy was regularly passing wind which was a sure sign he was asleep, and if none of the others noticed, then that meant they were sound too. I heard someone stirring across the room. Will.

He was waking up, but I decided to let him talk to me first. It was about five minutes before he finally spoke.

"Hey" he whispered.

"Hi" I replied. I paused. "I'm Iggy"

"Will" he answered back. There was another pause.

"What's that smell?" he asked, sounding like he was cringing. I laughed.

"That's just Gazzy. He has a tendency to make bad smells. Wreaks havoc with my nose." I chuckled. He laughed as well, but the type where he didn't really understand. He obviously hadn't looked me in the eyes yet. If he had he'd see they were glazed over. There was another awkward silence.

"We've, err, we've decided to try to help you. Get out. Get your sister" I said.

"Really?" he asked confused. "Why?"

"Because, you're in it just as much as us. We know what its like to be taken away from your family, have your life taken away from you, have wings fused onto your back." I said. "Have you tried moving them yet?"

"No, I haven't really got the chance." He replied.

"Well you should try. They'll get stiff and start aching otherwise." I advised.

"Well, they're already doing that but... may as well give it a go." He sighed. Then I heard him struggle and moan, and heard his wings open and start flapping, but stopped after a few flaps.

"It hurts." He said through his teeth.

"It will for now. After a while it will stop." I said. "How many cages over are you?"

"There's one empty one in between us, why?" he asked confused.

"I'm blind, I can't see you. But my other senses are heightened as a result. If you give me one of your feathers, I'll be able to recognise you by feeling your wings from now on, just like I do with the others." I said.

"Oh." He said, shocked. I could practically feel his eyes locking on mine, and heard a short intake of breath. "Err, yeah sure." I heard him pluck out a feather and him wince. "Here." I leaned out and felt around for the feather. Taking it I ran my hands across and around it and found it smooth like Nudge's but slightly stiffer and sturdier. "Thanks" he said.

"For what?" I frowned.

"Just thanks." I heard him lean back and from then on we were silent. I eventually heard him drop off to sleep again. He seemed nice but there was something about him which told him not to trust him entirely. It was probably too early to tell though. I heard Max stirring.

"Hey Ig." She mumbled. "Do you want me to take over?" She said sleepily.

"No, I don't think we need to watch him. But if you feel it's necessary." I sighed. I put my head down on the concrete floor and slowly but surely, nodded off as well.


	3. Childs Play

Chapter 3: Childs Play

Max POV

It had been 4 days since Will arrived. For the 1st 2 days, since he saw his sister, he was very quiet and mostly kept to himself. On the 3rd day, he started talking, asking us questions about flying and the whitecoats, and we told him, in return for some answers about him. After another couple of days, it stopped becoming questions, and started to become conversations. We told him how we have been here before but escaped and how a few months ago they found us again and stuck us back in here.

He told us about how he just finished school (the normal kind), his family and how he was attacked. It turned out he was from England. I was wondering where his accent was from. How he got to America I don't know, and he didn't either.

I felt sorry for him. He had no real idea what was going on still. How he got here or even where here was. We didn't reveal that much. He seemed fine but we didn't know enough to trust him yet. I think he was thinking the same thing.

We thought it was late afternoon but, truthfully, we had no idea. We were in a small room with no windows. Only a bare bulb gave us light and that was usually off or very low. Since Will had arrived it had been left on. There was peeling yellow wallpaper on the walls but it was very dirty. We think before us they kept actual dogs here before us. We were all in spate cages, spaced around the room. Angel was on one end with Iggy on the other, with Will in a separate cage a few over from Iggy.

I didn't know what to think of Will, he hadn't shown us his true colours yet, that was understandable, but I was sure he would soon. I often found myself just staring at him for hours when I was on watch while he was asleep, waiting or him to do something, analyzing him. I was a usually a good judge of character, but I didn't know what to think about him. His scars looked like he had been in the wars, and they looked too much of a part of him to be from any testing the whitecoats had done. His hair was overgrown, and he was generally dirty, as if he hadn't washed in months.

Could he be a mole? After a week I was sure he wasn't but often some nights, I heard him talking to someone. When I asked Iggy to listen in, he told me he was talking in his sleep, mostly saying his sister's name over and over.

I wasn't surprised that I thought he was a mole. 8 years of being tested on and ten being on the run for a year will make you quite paranoid. But I knew I shouldn't have done. Angel confirmed that he knew nothing ages ago, but it was possible he was brainwashed or something. The white coats had tried crazier things...

After about an hour I heard someone coming towards the door. In walked a whitecoat. Everyone woke up and looked, or in Iggy's case, listened, at her. She just walked past us all, without taking notice of us, and headed to Angels' cage. Will started shouting at her. "Where's Emily?! Let me see her! Bring her here right now!" but the whitecoat just ignored him and went over to Angel's cage. She unlocked it and took her out, but still ignored her too, not looking directly at her. She was smart.

"Where are you taking her? Tell me! Tell me now!" I demanded. Angel was silent. She knew there was no point struggling, she was too small to fight. The only way she could get away is if the whitecoat looked her in the eyes. And this one wasn't going to from experience. Last time she did, she ended up nearly letting us all out.

She went out of the room with Angel in tow and I heard the door lock behind her.

Will POV

I was at home, sitting on the sofa with Emily, watching Doctor Who. I'm surprised she wasn't frightened. Even I was a bit frightened. Those angels were pretty freaky. Then, suddenly we were angels, or at least like them. Flying through the sky, over some cliffs, and out to sea, watching Ferries trundle along a half mile below. I don't know how we got here or what happened to Doctor Who, but for some reason I didn't question it.

Behind us were the rest of the flock, slowly flapping their wings, looking around as if they were trying to find something. Then Emily was falling. I was calling out to her but she just kept falling. Suddenly, I heard a door opening. I turned over and woke up.

One of the whitecoats walked in the room, walking straight by our cages and towards Angels'.

"Where's Emily?! I shouted. "Let me see her! Bring her here right now!" but she just blanked me. What a bitch.

She opened Angel's cage and took her out. She didn't struggle, or trying to get away. Why didn't she? It's like she had lost all hope. And why didn't the whitecoat look at her, looking at the wall all the time?

Max shouted at the whitecoat. "Where are you taking her? Tell me! Tell me now!" The whitecoat just ignored her and walked out the room with Angel. I heard the door lock behind them.

The flock was silent. "Where do you think they are taking her?" I asked.

"They've never taken only one of us before." said Gazzy worriedly. "They always take a few of us when they do tests. Do you think she'll be ok?" He looked scared. I'm not surprised. Although he was younger than me the feelings always the same when your little sister gets taken away from you.

"I'm sure she'll be fine." said Iggy confidently. "She knows how to handle herself."

"It's been hours now, do you think she's ok?" asked Nudge worriedly. No-one had said much since Angel was taken. I was worried. I had grown attached to her over the last few days. She was sweet, and she reminded me a lot of Emily. But I wasn't half as worried as the others.

Although they were hiding it well, you could tell they were very worried.

"I'm sure she's fine. Like Iggy said, she knows how to handle herself." said Max who didn't sound very confident about it.

"They are probably doing some run of the mill tests" said Fang. He sounded confident enough, but you could see in his eyes he wasn't. Over the last few days, out of all of them, Fang seemed to trust me the least. He was very secluded, didn't say much, but when he did, it was usually something that helped, something that would comfort or assist in some way.

Suddenly there was a noise outside the door, it opened and Angel and a whitecoat cam in, followed by, Emily!

The whitecoat, looking fairly distant, just walked up to each cage and started to unlock them, and opened the doors. When mine opened I quickly ran towards Emily and hugged her.

The others were more cautious of the whitecoat. They all looked each other, and Max nodded to Fang. The he suddenly leapt out of his cage landing in front of the whitecoat; spread his large jet black wings wildly. He grabbed the dumbfounded whitecoats arm and twisted it violently behind him with a loud pop. The whitecoat fell to the door screaming, when Max smashed her foot into his head, leaving him unconscious. Whoa, these guys know some moves!

"Come on, time we got out of this place!" said Max.

Angel POV

"Where are you taking her?!" Max shouted. "Tell me! Tell me now." But the whitecoat just ignored her and walked me out the room. She ignored me too. But she'd slip up sooner or later. She locked the door behind us and walked me down a corridor. It was very clean, not spotless, but it was like a hospital compared to the room I'd been in the last few months, and quite dark with only the odd bare bulb every now and again.

We were walking for what seemed like an age, until finally I plucked up the courage to ask "Where are we going?"

Still not looking at me she replied "You are going to have a play."

"Play?!" I said happily. I had never had proper play! Hopefully this time it would not be with the Erasers. We were going in a different direction, so I was hopeful.

After many twists and turns down different corridors, all of which looked the same, and after walking past countless rooms, the Clone Room, Genetics Department, Dead Experiments were just some of them. I had no idea what any of these meant but they didn't sound good.

We finally reached the Nursery. This is where they kept me on the odd occasion when I was small. She walked in, and beckoned me inside. I reluctantly followed, knowing I didn't really have a choice. In the middle of the room, was a small girl with long blonde hair, sitting and playing with some puzzles.

"Angel, we'd like you to play with Emily." She said, still not looking at me.

"Ok" I said.

The whitecoat walked over to another whitecoat sitting behind a desk in the corner of the room, and they talked in hushed voices. The one behind the desk seemed to be a guard. I made out the whitecoat saying, "Don't look her in the eyes", to the guard, before she left me with Emily and the guard, and walked out the room, locking it behind her.

I walked over to Emily. She had her back to me.

"Hello." I said timidly. She turned around and smiled. She looked up and smiled nicely. "I'm Angel".

"Hi Angel" she replied. "Do you wanna play?"

"Yes please." I replied, grinning eagerly. This was going to be fun...

We ended up playing together for hours. We played tag, hide and seek and I even taught her how to hover using her wings, although the guard put a stop to that pretty quickly. I made a friend. I had never made a proper friend before and although she was only 2 1/2 she acted like a four year old. She was very smart for her age, just like me. I liked her.

The guard was reading a book, looking up at us every now and again. He hadn't tried to talk to us much or interfere apart from when I taught her to hover, but he hadn't looked up in a while. The guard was off guard.

"Wait here I have an idea." I said to Emily, who was playing with some Lego, and walked over to the guard.

I walked over to him, tapped him on the shoulder, and said "Excuse me we need some help?" He looked at me and fell for it. He looked straight into my eyes and that's when his body relaxed and his eyes drooped. I focused my mind to his and I said "You are going to take me and Emily to where The Flock is being kept, back to the cages. When we get there you will open the cages and lead us out of the building. When you have done that, you will come back here and wait. Do you understand?"

"Yes." He murmured slowly. "I am going to take you two back to the cages now, unlock the cages and then lead you all out of the building, come back here and wait."

"Excellent!" I chirped. I loved this power.

"Come on Emily" I called.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"We're going to see Will." I said kindly. She grinned and came over and held my hand. "Go." I

said to the guard, who walked over to the door, took out his keys and unlocked it. We walked out and followed the hypnotized guard back to the cages. The walk seemed a lot shorter this time

and in what seemed like no time at all were outside the room.

"Hurry up." I said and the guard, who started to move a lot quicker. He opened the door and ran in and

began to unlock the cages.

Me and Emily then ran in and straight away Will was hugging her after being one of the first out the cages. The others were more suspicious. Fang looked at Max, who gave him a nod. Then Fang jumped out his cage, unfurled his Wings and dislocated the guards arm. The guard came out of his trance as he fell to the floor, screaming, but he wasn't for long as Max then kicked his head and he fell unconscious.

"Come on, time we got out of this place!" said Max.


	4. Fight Then Flight

Chapter 4: Fight Then Flight

Nudge POV

"Come on, time we got out of this place!" said Max smiling.

"Why did you knock him out?" said Angel angrily. "I had him under control! He was going to lead us out!" All of a sudden there was loud beeping noise all around us. Then a voice came out over an intercom.

"Avian experiments escaping! All available personnel to Room 108!" Uh oh!

"Well it looks like we'll have to find our own way out then! Come one!" shouted Fang over the repeating voice. Max ran out of the room with the flock following me behind. Will didn't get up straight away, looking up at us, worried.

"Well?" I asked "Are you coming or not?" He smiled and picked up Emily and ran out the door with me behind him. Then the rest of the flock came running by us. "Yeah, we're not going that way!" Max said to me as she ran past, and I looked down the corridor from where she came, and there were a small group of whitecoats running towards us, shouting orders. I pushed Will along and chased after Max. We ran, past countless rooms. I looked over my shoulder. "Max!" I shouted ahead. "7 of them, 6 o'clock!"

"Just keep running!" She shouted back. We ran down so many corridors, twisting and turning. Left, right, right, left, left, right. We had no-idea where we were going! Suddenly, out of an adjoining corridor on the right, came a whitecoat and grabbed me! "Gerrof me!" I screamed as he tried to cover my mouth. I bit his hand and he yelped out in pain. Just enough time for me to shout out, "Max! Help!" I saw her turn around and instantly she came charging at the whitecoat. She tackled him on to the floor and he released me. "Come on quick!" she said, getting up and grabbing my hand.

We started running trying to catch up with the others. We heard a roar behind us and we all turned our heads. There was standing Ari. His features were wolfish, even though he hadn't morphed. He had never been the same since they changed him. Then he started morphing into an Eraser. It looked painful, having fur, claws, a muzzle come out of nowhere, changing his bone structure into something hideous.

We caught up with the others. "Iggy, I need you to take the little ones and get out of here! Me and Fang will stay and hold them off!" She shouted to him. Iggy didn't argue, but Will did. We heard Ari roar again, in pain as he morphed.

"I'm staying too!" he shouted.

"No! You've got to look after you're sister! You need to—" Max begun.

"No! They're gonna pay for what they did to us. I'm staying." He cut in forcefully. I could see Max wasn't going to argue. There was nothing she could say to stop him. You could see the anger in his eyes. Instead she just nodded to him and got ready to face the oncoming attack. He Will walked up to Iggy, still with Emily in his arms and said "I need you to take her. I need you to keep her safe." he said to Iggy. Iggy nodded and took Emily from his arms. "Don't let anything happen to her!"

"I won't. I promise." He replied and then beckoned me, Gazzy, Angel and Emily along down the corridor. "Be careful!" I shouted back to them as I saw Ari coming to a halt near them.

"Get the others!" he ordered to the whitecoats. "I'll handle these ones." He said grinning. The whitecoats carried on after us without hesitation.

"Come on!" Shouted Iggy. "We've got to get out of here!"

Ari POV

There they were. Not a hundred yards ahead. I morphed into my Eraser form. It used to hurt, a lot, but I'd gotten used to it now. I roared, letting my instincts take over.

I started running after them. I could here Max telling the others to go. Sounded like Fang and the new one was staying too. I don't care. All I wanted was Max. She was an amazing fighter, always seemed to have learnt new moves, new skills, I didn't care that each time she beat me. Every time she did, I just learnt more about her. This time, she wasn't going to win though. This time, she'd be mine.

I ran up to them and came to a halt. I shouted orders at the goons, ""Get the others! I'll handle these ones." They ran right past me and headed after the younger ones.

Max and I looked at each other. This time I'd beat her. This time I'd win! The new one, Will, started forward, his fists clenched, but Fang held him back. "This one's Max's, let her handle it" he said to him.

"But I" - Will began.

"I'd listen to him if I were you Will." I called to him. "This is between me, and her" I interrupted, turning my head to Max as I said it. I could see the anger in his eyes. He wanted his own back. Not today, you mutant freak. I chuckled to myself.

That was when Max attacked. She took me by surprise, she was so quick! She launched herself at me, I swung my claw at her, but she ducked, and slid feet first into my legs, knocking me over. I got up just in time to have a hard fist slam into my head. That's when I lashed out.

I started swiping my claws, pushing her back, I nicked her a couple of times, but she was dodging most of them. Damn she was fast! I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my body. I had backed her up against the wall. This was when I thought I was going to win. I smashed my fist into her face, once, twice, three times.

I was pulling back to take a forth hit when someone on my right said, "Hey! Ari!" I turned around, snarling, to see a fist coming at me, and into my face. I was flown back ten feet, though a door and landed against a wall, my head banging cracking against it.

I heard a loud explosion in the distance, and saw Fang and Will looking at each other, and saying something to each other, through the doorway, then down at Max who had slumped to the ground. At least I gave her a pummelling, even if she got rescued. Next time it would be different.

My vision started to leave me and I felt myself slipping into sweet unconsciousness. I remember think to myself, 'Holy hell, what a punch that kid had' to myself, and then seeing Fang helping Max up and running off with her and Will, before I blanked out.

Gasman POV

"Come on!" Shouted Iggy. "We've got to get out of here!"

I was at the back of the pack. We ran down lots more corridors, pushing Angel along when she needed it. I wasn't going to let them get my sister.

After a few minutes of running we had lost them. I could hear one of whitecoats shouting orders in the distance to "Spilt up! Now! We've got to find them before they get out!" A sure sign that they had lost us. But we kept running. Just in case.

We helped each other along, going at a steady jog to conserve energy. We went past many different rooms. I took note of them as I went past. Records, Toilets, Weaponry and Explosives. I stopped outside that last one. Weaponry and Explosives? The Whitecoats were far off. I grinned to myself and opened the door.

"I think we lost them for now" said Iggy. "No doubt they'll be back though. Is everyone ok?"

"Yeah, we're-- wait a minute! Where's Gazzy?" asked Nudge worriedly. "Do you think they got him got him?"

"It's ok! I'm here" I said catching up to them. "Sorry, I err, I tripped up."

"You should have called ahead, for all we knew you were—"but Iggy was cut off when a whitecoat came round the corner. We all looked each other unsure of what to do until the whitecoat screamed

"I'VE FOUND THEM! THEY'RE OVER HERE!" Iggy put down Emily and pounced, punching him square in the jaw, knocking him out cold. But before we could run again, a group of them appeared behind us. I swivelled round to see them coming down on us. We tried fighting them off of us, but there were too many of them. I saw one run off, holding a crying Emily to his chest. We started to push them back now, punching and kicking at them, Angel had one hypnotised and made him run into the wall, fast. That had to hurt.

I pulled one of the grenades I took from the room, out of my pocket, pulled out the pin with my mouth, and threw it towards the white coats. "GET DOWN!" I shouted! The others did, as did I and the dumbfounded whitecoats just looked at us before an explosion in the middle of them, threw them all around the corridor. 'Just like old times' I grinned to myself.

I looked up after a few seconds to see the dust settling, then seeing the charred bodies of the whitecoats. I didn't feel bad. They deserved worse, after what they had done to us. "What the hell was that?!" I around to see Iggy and the girls getting up.

"A grenade. Swiped a load from this room earlier." I replied to him.

"Well thanks for telling us!!" he said, unsure what to think.

"Sorry" I said quietly, getting up too. "Come on, lets get going."

We started jogging, down the corridor, knowing that there wouldn't be too many whitecoats left. Then we saw it. An exit, leading outside!

"I don't know what you did back there, but whatever it was, you did it right!" I turned around to see a beat up Max, with Fang and Will behind her.

"Oh I found a grenade and-" I was cut short by Will who pushed his way past Max and looked at Iggy and said,

"Where's Emily?" Nudge and Angel looked around surprised, realising she was gone, and then I remembered. "Where's Emily?!" Will repeated, louder this time.

"I'm sorry Will. They got her before the explosion, I saw one of the whitecoats take her." I said solemnly. He looked at me, and then at Iggy angrily.

"You said you'd take care of her, that you wouldn't let anything happen to her!" he shouted at Iggy. Iggy was silent, unsure of what to say. "I'm going back." said Will determinately. "I'm going back for her!" Just then some Whitecoats and two Erasers came round the corner. Max had seen them too.

"There's no time for that now, we've got to go!" She said pushing Will along.

"No! I've got to go back for her!" he said, trying to go back.

"You can't you'll be killed!" Max shouted. "Now get going!" She started pushing him harder and extremely reluctantly, he started to run for the exit with us.

Before we knew it, with the whitecoats and erasers not 10 yards behind us, and we were outside. It felt so good to be outside again!

"Take off!" Shouted Max and we all unfurled our wings and then took off except for Max and Will.

"Come on just flap your wings and get some wind underneath them" she shouted to him. Still running he started flapping in a regular motion. Soon he was starting to lift off the ground. "That's it, keep going!" shouted Max who had started take off too. I looked back from the sky to see Will; with pain written all over his face, take off and get into the sky. But whether that was pain from leaving Emily behind, or the pain of flying for the first time, I couldn't tell.


	5. Can't Go Back

Chapter 5: Can't Go Back

Will POV

I felt anger surging through me. Felt the anger in my hands, turning into energy, power. Why wasn't Fang doing anything? How could he just stand there and let Ari pummel Max! I had to do something. I stepped forward, pushing Fang out of the way. Ari was leaning back to punch Max again when I shouted "Hey! Ari!" I felt power, immense power and threw a punch at him. He looked at me, snarled, and then looked surprised as he saw my fist coming towards him.

He flew back at least 10 feet, through a door, and into a wall. He'd left a massive crack running down it. Or in fact, I had. How did I hit him so hard? The feeling of surging power was subsiding. I was confused.

Then I heard an explosion. It came from the direction of the others. I looked at Fang as he looked at me, he got gone pale, paler than usual. "How did you do that?" he asked suspiciously.

"I don't know." I replied, bemused, looking at my still clenched fist. We both looked at Max, who had slumped to the floor. She had taken those punches pretty well considering it was a 7 foot werewolf who had dealt them. We both helped her up.

"Come on" she said, looking a little disoriented. "Let's catch up." She started running off towards the sound of the explosion, Fang followed. I took one last look back at Ari, who seemed unconscious, and wondered how I had hit him so hard. But there wasn't time to think about it, so I ran after Max and Fang.

We caught up to them after about 5 minutes. They seemed to have caused the explosion somehow, killing many of the whitecoats. At least I thought they caused it, I couldn't see there bodies. Then again, it would be hard to tell who anyone was if it wasn't for the white coats of the whitecoats.

When we did catch up they were staring at something. A door, an exit! "I don't know what you did back there, but whatever it was, you did it right!" said Max, to get their attention. They turned around and looked relieved to see us. I couldn't see Emily though.

"Oh I found a grenade and-" but I pushed past Max and interrupted him.

"Where's Emily? I said to Iggy. I saw Angel and Nudge look around, surprised. Had they not even realised? "Where's Emily?" I said louder this time. Had they lost her!? Was she alright?!

"I'm sorry Will. They got her before the explosion, I saw one of the whitecoats take her." said Gazzy quietly. I looked at him, and then at Iggy, trying to show him how angry I was. Then I remembered he was blind. So I shouted at him.

"You said you'd take care of her, that you wouldn't let anything happen to her!" Iggy was silent. He looked unsure of what to say. Well, I couldn't just let her be taken from me again. So, "I'm going back." I said sternly. "I'm going back for her!"

I saw Max turn her head. I was about to walk away, go back down the corridor when she said "There's no time for that now, we've got to go!" She started pushing me forward, towards the exit. What was she doing? I tried to push her off, but she just pushed harder.

"I've got to go back for her!" I shouted.

"You can't you'll be killed!" Max shouted. "Now get going!" I looked back and saw some Erasers coming. Reluctantly and shamefully, I ran after the others for the exit. Max was right behind me. The others were already outside. We ran out of the door and Max immediately shouted "Take off!" I saw them unfurl their wings. Take off! How was I going to do that?! She saw the look on my face and, still both running, she shouted "Come on just flap your wings and get some wind underneath them!" I saw the others ahead of me, already in the air, the way they flapped their wings in a regular yet precise motion. So I tried copying them.

I unfurled them, which hurt enough on its own, and then I started to flap them. They were sore and it ached a lot, but pretty soon I could feel myself lifting off the ground. Max took off and shouted back "That's it, keep going!" The erasers were inches away from me. I flapped Harder, harder still, until, I was flying! I was actually flying!

5 minutes later we were clear of the school, luckily there no flying erasers coming after us. I was struggling to keep up with the flock. I was silent, thinking. I couldn't just leave Emily behind! What was I thinking! I had to go back! I started to turn around, struggling. I wasn't very good at this flying malarkey.

Max looked back at me and called "Where are you going!"

"To get Emily!" I shouted back. Almost instantly Max was next to me, followed by Fang. Was I really that slow?

"You can't go back there! You'll be killed!" She shouted.

"I don't care! I'm going back to get my sister and you're not going to stop me!" I shouted at Max.

"No, but I will." I turned my head to see Fang pulling his arm back and then seeing his fist come into my face. Ow...

We were angels, or at least like them. Flying through the sky, over the cliffs, watching Ferries trundle along a half mile below. Behind us were the rest of the flock. I heard a noise. Like a machine. There was a flash. Then Emily was falling, I was calling out to her but she just kept falling. I stared as I watched her land in the water. Yet I did nothing. I looked around to see the flock fighting metal things, metal wolves. Then darkness.

I woke up to a blur of reddish gold, surrounded by green. Where was I, what is this place? My eyes cleared and I saw it was Max's hair. She was leaning over me, dabbing a wet flannel on my forehead. The green were trees.

"Where am I?" I asked, dazed.

"Forest." She replied, chucking my bruise. "About 30 minutes away from the School, as the mutant freak flies." I chuckled.

"How long was I out?" I asked, still a bit dizzy.

"About 6 hours. We had to carry you here you know. Fang got you bad." That bastard. I know why he did it, to protect me, but still, what a bastard.

"Where'd you get that flannel?" I asked.

"Angel and I went to a town, about a mile east. Angel got the guy at the counter to give us a major discount, if you catch my drift." I chuckled again.

Then I remembered Emily. I bolted up, almost knocking Max onto the ground.

"Hey, I know what you're thinking" said Max, easing me back onto the ground. "You can't go back for her. Not alone." I was going to protest when I realised she was right. I wouldn't have a clue what to do, which direction to go, how to find her. I needed them.

"When?" I asked. "When can we go back?"

"We talked about that while you were out. We want to help you get her back, especially Iggy, he feels responsible, but we want to have some freedom first. It's been months since we've been outside." I was going to protest, but then remembered that I needed them. For now I'd have to go along with it and hope for the best.

Iggy POV

It had been 3 days in the forest and I loved it. It was so nice to be able breath fresh, natural air, instead of clean, antiseptic air. The sounds of the birds waking you up in the morning, the noises of the forest, the feel of the ground. The only thing that would have made it better is if I could actually see it all.

I was enjoying cooking again. My skills were a little rusty considering I hadn't been able to cook for a few months but it was relaxing. When Will first saw me cooking he was shocked. He was scared to touch anything I touched. "But you're blind." he had said.

"No, really?" I said sarcastically. "You know I hadn't noticed it before but now you mention it, you're right!" I could practically hear him scowling.

"No, I mean how do you do it?" he asked.

"Not sure really, I can just feel the food, smell it and I throw in the stuff which smells and feels good, and it generally turns out well." I replied.

That was the only time over the 3 days that Will had spoken to me. He had barely spoken to anyone, but he hadn't said a word to me. He was still angry at me for letting Emily get captured. I had told him I'd keep her safe. I had let him down. I needed to clear the air somehow. It was when I was chatting to Nudge about the escape that I realised how to do that.

I heard him go walk in the direction of a small stream Angel found. I could tell it was him through the sound of his footsteps. Very light and quick footed. I decided to follow. The sound of the stream was getting louder. I had to be close now. It was then I realised the sound of his footsteps had stopped.

"What are you doing?" Will asked to my left. "Why are you following me?" I turned to face the direction where he was.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry. Sorry for letting you down. I said I'd look out for Emily, but I put her down when they found us and... There were so many sounds and so many footsteps. I couldn't... I can't..." I began to cry. "I'm so sorry Will." He was silent. I wish I could see his face. It would be so much easier to tell what he was thinking if I could just see his face.

After what seemed like an age, he spoke. "I forgive you. It's not your fault. I mean you blind; you couldn't exactly keep an eye on her. I shouldn't have stayed behind. I should have gone with her myself. It was my fault. I just wanted to get my own back. I was being selfish." He confessed. "Look where it got me." I was unsure of what to say. I still felt bad, that I was still responsible for it.

"Even though, I still feel guilty. I want to make it up to you" I said.

"Well, how are you going to do that?" He asked. "Are you going to teach me to cook?" He asked jokingly.

"No," I replied. "I'm going to teach you to fly."


	6. The Holidays Are Over

Chapter 6: The Holidays Are Over

Max POV

About a week and a half had passed since we left School. We were in a forest about a mile west of a town called Montgomery. The School was only a 30 minute flight from here. I didn't feel safe being so close, but I knew we would have to go back sooner or later for Emily. I had promised Will, we would soon.

He had asked me first thing, each morning, for the last 5 days when we were going back. Each time my reply was "Not yet." I had been spending a fair amount of time with Will, learning more about him. He told me about when he had hit Ari, the power surging through him, the anger, how he had never felt anything like it. I guessed it was some sort of power. I told him how the rest of us had some sort of power. How Gazzy could mimic almost anyone's voice perfectly, how Nudge could find anything on a computer in an instant, how Iggy could recognise almost anything by touch or sound, how Angel could read and control minds as well as breathe underwater and how I could fly at almost supersonic speeds. He asked about Fang, what powers he had. I told him Fang didn't have any extra powers yet, or at least he hadn't told us about it if he had one.

I liked talking to Will. I very rarely got a break from being leader these days. He didn't see himself as part of the flock, and although he respected my authority over the group. I think he was only staying because he knew he needed us to get Emily back and get home. He was his own leader. It was nice I had one less person to worry about.

Will was spending a lot of time with Iggy. I asked what they were doing, but they always changed the subject whenever I asked them.

I was sitting by the campfire, with Angel and Nudge. It was dark and Gazzy and Fang were asleep and Will and Iggy were off somewhere again. I had thought about following them, but whatever they were doing was between them. I didn't want to intrude.

Nudge and Angel were talking. "You know what I want to be when I'm older?" Nudge asked Angel.

"What?" Angel replied, yawning.

"An actress!" She exclaimed happily. "It would be so cool to have people know who you were, noticing you as you passed, and not because I had wings, because I was in films and they respected and admired me for it. The good kind of noticing." Typical Nudge. Everyday it was something different. A doctor, a mechanic, a teacher. It never stopped. Nudge continued to talk on, not noticing that Angel had fallen asleep.

I heard a rustling to my left. I looked over and saw Iggy and Will walking out of the forest. I got up and walked over to them. "I know it's pointless my asking, but what are you two doing out there?" I moaned.

Will just ignored me and said sternfully. "When are we going back for Emily?"

"I told you when we are ready. Most of us don't want to leave yet. I know we made a promise, but the flocks well being comes first. You can't go on your own. You can't even fly! You'll never get in!" I said. I was too tired for this conversation.

"Well maybe you're not ready but I am. Iggy has been teaching me to fly and I know which direction it is. I can go with or without you." He looked at me forcefully.

"And when he goes I'm going to go with him." said Iggy. I looked at him, surprised. "He can't go alone. Someone has to go with him, besides, it was my fault, I have to help him get her back, and anyway I can."

"And me!" piped in Nudge, who seemed to have been listening in. "Someone will need to be on lookout and there might be a computer or two I can hack. Dig up some stuff. Beside's you did promise him. You can't keep delaying it." All 3 of them were looking at me, even Iggy. They were going whether I liked it or not. I had to give in.

"Fine," I sighed. "But only the four of us, well leave a note or get Angel to tell them in the before we leave. We'll go in the morning."

Will smiled at me and said "Thanks."

"Right then, bed!" I ordered. "Looks like we are going to have a long day ahead of us!"

Fang POV

I was cold. Extremely cold. There was ice, everywhere. Darkness and ice. There was a rock on the floor. I picked it up and it froze in my hands. It dropped it and it shattered into a million pieces. It was so cold. I heard wing beats. Someone was flying.

I opened my eyes to see the fire, now just a few smouldering ashes. I looked up and saw 4 of the flock taking off. Make that 3. Will was one of them taking off. I got up and ran over to them. "Max!" I called after them, careful not to wake Angel and Gazzy, who were still sleeping. "Where are you going?"

She had already taken off, but flew back, hovering 5 feet in front of me. "We're going back to the school. We're going to try to find Emily." She said calmly.

"Oh, ok hold up, I'll get my shoes on and come with" I said.

"No." She said quickly. "Just us four. We want to get in and out without being seen. 5 would be too many." I began to protest when she dealt the final blow. "And besides, someone has to stay behind with Angel and Gazzy." I was about to suggest that Iggy stay behind but she had already started to fly after them. "We'll be back in a few hours hopefully!" She called back.

"Ok then." I sighed. I walked back over to the fire. Angel and Gazzy had woken up. They had been watching me talking to Max.

"Have they gone back for Emily?" Gazzy asked. I just nodded, and continued to walk past them.

"Well what do we do then?" called Angel.

"Get firewood, start a fire. I'm going to find us some breakfast." I called back as I walked through the tree line. We had the camp set up in a small clearing in the middle of the woods. There was a small stream that Angel had found whilst exploring, not far off, and a small town about a mile away. The leaves of the trees were blossoming already, a lot earlier than usual. I suspected it was something The School had done to the local area.

I couldn't figure out why would Max leave us alone? What if the Erasers came for us when we were gone? I was being picky though, I knew they wouldn't. We hadn't seen them in over a week. Something was up. Why were they not coming after us? Why leave us alone? We escaped, killed a fair few of their men, and they were just leaving us alone? Something didn't add up.

I was returning to camp triumphant. I had caught 3 rabbits. It may have taken a few hours longer than planned, but cooking your own meals was always more satisfying than the canned food we had bought from the shop in town. I was wondering if Angel and Gazzy were alright. I hadn't heard anything and I never stayed out of shouting distance from the clearing. I'm sure they would be.

I was coming up to the campsite. I could see the flickers of a fire through the trunks of the trees. As I got closer I saw that there were more than two people there. It seemed that Max and the others had arrived back. I was too far away to hear what they were talking about, but I saw Will get up and walk off. He looked angry. I didn't want to alert them to my presence but I wanted to hear what they were saying, so, with the rabbits still in my hand, I crept closer.

Will POV

We had arrived at the school with relatively no trouble. We flew in over the clouds, and onto the roof. Max had said to expect Erasers but there were none. There were only two human guards who didn't even see us, before we crept up behind them and knocked them out. We took some rope out the packs we had bought with us, and bound and gagged them. We also took their walkie talkies, and got Nudge to change the frequency, making sure so that they wouldn't be picked up by anyone inside.

We went down through a vent on the roof and, making sure there was no-one there, dropped down into a corridor. We walked down the corridor, being quiet to make sure no-one was alerted to our presence. Once again there was no-one at all around. Not even any whitecoats. This was weird.

We were walking around for about 20 minutes when we came across a familiar site. The walls were charred and black; there were blood stains on the walls and floors, large cracks in the walls around us. The same as we had left it, except for the bodies, which had thankfully been removed. This was where Gazzy had set off the bomb.

"Right, we know where we are," Said Max. "Now we just need to figure out where we are going."

"I think I remember seeing a records room when we were running." said Nudge. "Perhaps we should try there?"

"Lead the way." Max said to Nudge, smiling. Max had an amazing smile, so full of hope, reassurance and, beauty. We walked down the corridors for about 5 minutes, when Nudge stopped at an intersection of corridors. One leading left, the other right. She looked lost. "You do know which way to go don't you Nudge?" asked Max, frowning.

"I know after this it will be the 1st left, second right, second left, and it will be somewhere down that corridor, but I'm not sure which way now." She said, looking worried. "Should we split up?" she asked, looking round at Max.

"I suppose we'll have to." Max said sighing. "You and Iggy take the left," she said looking at me. "Nudge and I will take the right. Remember, 1st left, second right, second left."

"Righto." I said. She started to go down the corridor when, without thinking I said, "Be careful Max." She looked at me and frowned and smiled at the same time.

"I will" she sounded slightly confused. "Why? Are you worried about me?"

"So what if I am." I said back, smiling. It was like my brain had gone blank and my mouth was on auto-pilot. Why did I say that? Iggy and I walked off, with Max and Nudge going the other way.

Once we were out of earshot of them Iggy said, laughing lightly "What was that?"

"I don't know. What was what?" I said confused.

"That!" said Iggy, pointing back down the corridor. "Back there! Do you like Max or something?"

"Maybe. I don't know." I pondered to myself. "Right now, all I can worry about is Emily." "Well either way, if you do, it's fine by me, and probably Angel, Nudge and Gazzy too, but you'll have a tough time with Fang. He doesn't trust you." remarked Iggy.

"Look, at the moment, all I want to do is find Emily, Ok? I can't think about anything else." I exclaimed. I wondered whether I was trying to convince him or myself.

We were silent after that. I quite liked Iggy. Over the last week, he had helped me a lot with my flying. We'd become friends. It was interesting how he still managed to do everyday things, even though he was blind, sometimes better than people who could see.

Everyday, he managed to cook amazing meals, spike his scarlet red hair in the exact same way each day, managed to shave the stubble off his chin without once cutting himself. If it wasn't for his white, glazed over eyes, you wouldn't have thought he was blind. He was the best 'lookout' out of all of us, as he could hear what was coming ages before we could see it. A cockroach couldn't get within 50 meters of him without him knowing when he was concentrating.

We were arriving at the last left when Max's voice came through on the walkie talkie. "Hey guys, we found it."

Iggy held up the walkie talkie to his mouth and whispered "Ok, we're on our way." We turned round and started to jog back.

"Well that was a pointless little trek we just did there." I laughed.

We had one corner left to turn when Iggy put his hand in front of me. "Wha-" I began but he cut me off with a shush and put his finger to his lips. He pointed round the corner and put his finger to his ear. "What, can you hear someone?" I whispered as quietly as I could. He nodded.

I poked my head round the corner and saw a large hairy figure up against the wall, slowly creeping down the corridor; coming up for a room which I could see said Records.

"Ari." I whispered to Iggy. I looked around for a weapon, and, seeing a fire extinguisher on the wall opposite, picked it up. "Stay here." I said as quietly as I could to him. I crept round the corner and started to slide along the wall. Ari had reached the door and now, he kicked it open violently. "Well, what do we have here?" he began. "Looks like some birds have been-" but before he had time to finish the sentence, I had crept up behind him and held the fire extinguisher behind my head. "Not today Wolfy", I thought to myself and then pulled the extinguisher over my head and let go.

It hit him with a crack, and he fell to the floor. I looked down at him and then through the door to see Nudge and Max looking at me shocked.

"Looks like we came just in time!" I laughed.


	7. Family Affairs

Chapter 7: Family Affairs

Nudge POV

I was lost. I couldn't remember whether we had come from the left or the right. Max must have seen the look on my face because she asked, "You do know which way to go don't you Nudge?"

"I know after this it will be the 1st left, second right, second left, and it will be somewhere down that corridor, but I'm not sure which way now." I replied, trying to sound confident. "Should we split up?"

"I suppose we'll have to." Max sighed. "You and Iggy take the left," she said looking at Will. "Me and Nudge will take the right. Remember, 1st left, second right, second left."

"Righto." said Will. We started to walk away when I heard Will speak. "Be careful Max." he said. Max and I both turned around.

"I will." Max replied, sounding confused. "Why? Are you worried about me?"

"So what if I am?" Will said back smiling. They both looked at each other and then turned around and walked away. I followed Max. I smiled to myself.

"What are you smiling at?" said Max suddenly, looking down at me.

"Oh, nothing." I answered, trying to keep a straight face. Max looked at me, and then away, smirking to herself.

We turned a corner and there, on the left was a room labelled Records. We hadn't encountered anyone on our way here. Usually there would've been the odd eraser patrolling the corridors, especially after we broke out. Something was going on and it couldn't be good.

Max walked up to the door and slowly turned the handle. She pushed on the door a bit and it opened. She looked at me, smiled, and the pushed it open all the way. We stepped inside.

All there was, was a standard PC sitting on a desk, with a lone chair in front of it, on the wall to the right. The rest of the room was bare, painted grey, no windows and a single bulb hanging in the centre of the room. "Hmm?" I pondered sarcastically. "Where to start?" Max laughed and we headed for the computer which looked fairly outdated.

I sat down in the chair and loaded it up. We needed to enter a password, but after a few minutes of hacking we were in. Microsoft hasn't got anything on me! We loaded up on to a standard desktop, except it had folder after folder on it, all labelled something obscure like '4££µ(' and 'ƒ7w'. Inside these folders were more folders, and more inside of those. "Well this is going to take forever." groaned Max.

"Not if I have anything to say about it." I replied happily. I went into the start bar and opened search. I typed in 'Avian Human Experiment" And hit return. Instantly a file popped up named 'hae#1-8'. I opened it and instantly the faces of the flock popped up as well as Will's and Emily's. I double clicked on Emily's face which sent me to another page. On it had a lot of information about Emily. Full Name, Place of Birth, then Current Location. Under it was a sentence saying 'Due to safety reasons Experiment #8 has been transferred to Facility B in Birmingham, UK.'

"I'll give them a buzz" said Max. She held up the walkie to her mouth, held down the button and whispered "Hey guys, we found it." There was a slight pause when Iggy's voice came through quietly "Ok, we're on our way."

I had continued looking through the information and then saw something bad. "Oh god!" I gasped and held my hand up to my mouth.

"What? What is it?" Max asked. I pointed, hand shaking, at a category named Parentage. Underneath it says deceased.

"D-Do you think Will knows?" I stuttered.

"No, he would have mentioned it." She replied, also putting her hand over her mouth.

"Do you thin-" Suddenly there was a loud bang and we turned our heads round to see Ari standing in the doorway.

"Well, what do we have here?" he started to say "Looks like some birds have been-" when without warning there was a loud crack and Ari slumped the floor. We looked down at his unconscious body then back up to see Will standing in the doorway, with a fire extinguisher with a large dent at his feet.

Will looked up from Ari to us and laughed "Looks like we came just in time! Hey Iggy, it's safe!" he called. He walked into the room, followed by Iggy and Max nudged me discreetly. I quickly turned off the screen.

"What you got?" asked Will leaning over my shoulder.

"Nothing now." I replied quickly, putting my ability to lie on cue to use. "The power went we couldn't get it back on. But before it went we found out where your sister is."

"Where?" he asked, looking forcefully in my eyes. He wasn't smiling anymore; his face had gone hard and stern. Should I tell him about his parents?

"Birmingham." Max said shortly, distracting him from me, as if she could tell I was going to tell him. "In the United Kingdom."

"In England?! Well how-" this time it was him who was cut off, by the sound of a voice saying "Intruder Alert! All available personnel to Room 324!" Uh oh!

"We've got to split! And fast!" shouted Max over the repeating voice. She ran out the room, followed by Will. I grabbed Iggy's hand and ran out the room with him. This time Max knew the way back. We ran down corridors and found the exit we used when we escaped last time, quite easily. We ran outside.

I counted 10 whitecoats, 20 feet in front of us, blocking us in. But they didn't have wings. "In the air!" shouted Max. She had already started to unfurl her wings and take off. Me and Iggy followed suit and took off a good 10 feet before we reached the whitecoats. Will had a harder time.

He had unfurled his wings, and was trying to take off, but still wasn't that good at it. He got in the air, before he hit into one of the whitecoats and rolled down on to the floor. The whitecoats converged around him, trapping him. We were 50 feet in the air and looking down.

"What's going on?" Iggy hissed.

"They've circle around him, got him trapped." I said worriedly back.

"Will!" Iggy called down. "Do like we practised! You can do it!" What was it they practised? I looked down at Will and saw him crouch down, and then, with all his force, jump up, and start to flap his wings instantly. He caught the wind and started to rise. Whoa! It had taken me months to get that right! He caught up with us and we started to fly away, back towards the forest, somehow knowing no-one would be following us. Not yet, at least.

Gazzy POV

"Have they gone back for Emily?" I asked Fang, watching them fly off. He nodded, and continued to walk past us.

"Well what do we do then?" called Angel after him.

"Get firewood, start a fire. I'm going to find us some breakfast." He shouted back as he walked through the tree line. I looked at him as he walked away, confused.

"Well what are we supposed to do if an Eraser attacks?" I whispered under my breath.

"Oh, they're not going to come." said Angel, in an everyday sort of tone. "Not anymore."

"What? What do you mean anymore?" I exclaimed, shocked.

"Oh nothing, just something I overheard." She continued.

"Overheard? Well why didn't Iggy overhear it too? You've been around him since we left, and he's a much better listener than you." I asked hurriedly.

"It's not that kind of overheard. Sometimes I overhear people thoughts when I'm not trying. I heard someone when I went to play with Emily" she replied as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Well did you recognise the voice?" I asked urgently. "I don't know, maybe, but I can't be sure. They had a very low voice though." she said, thinking." Never mind, shall we get the firewood?" She got up and skipped off into the woods. I watched her go, completely amazed, wondering why she hadn't told us. Angel could be strange sometimes very strange. But rather than worrying myself about it, I cleared it from my mind, got up and chased after her.

We had collected the firework and started a fire like Fang had asked. We were just waiting for him to come back, but he was taking his time. "Do you think we'll ever find our parents?" Angel said suddenly.

This completely threw me off guard. "What? Err, yeah, erm, I'm sure we will." I stuttered. "I mean Iggy found his didn't he, why can't we find ours?"

"I suppose. But I hope we don't find them." she said bluntly. She was full of surprises today!

"Why not?" I asked, confused.

"Because the flocks my family." We were silent after this. Although I did want to find our parents, she was right. We had spent practically our whole lives with the flock. She was right. The flock was our family.

Once again, Angel surprised me, this time by making me jump, when she said happily, "They're back!" I looked to my left to see only 4 figures landing. They didn't find Emily then.

Max came up to us and asked, "Where's Fang?"

"Hunting." I replied bluntly. "But did you find anything?"

"Yeah." said Will, angrily. "She's in England!"

"England?" I asked. "In Europe?"

"Yep!" he said sarcastically. "Great isn't it!"

"Umm, Will." asked Max as kindly as she could. "Do you mind if we talked in private?" She gestured to the flock as she said it. "You know, family stuff."

Will looked at her, offended. Then he relaxed and said "Yeah whatever, I've got to think some stuff through anyway." He got up and walked off. He was angry. Angry that he hadn't found his sister.

"So?" I asked. "Did you find out anything about our parents?"

"No, nothing, there was no time." Said Iggy quietly. Parents were always a bit of a touchy subject around him now. We were silent.

"What I really wanted to talk about was what we were going to do about Will. Whether we were going to help him get his sister or not?" Max said looking at the four of us. No-one said anything. "Ok then, I'll go. We need to help him. If I hadn't have been so selfish, and just gone back to the school with him straight away, we could have gotten her back before they shipped her off to Europe. It's my fault, and it's my responsibility.

"You're right. About needing to help him. I mean he's as good as one of us now. We should help him." I said confidently. I could imagine what it was like to lose your sister. As I thought this I looked at Angel. She was staring at Max, frowning. She had that look on her face. Like when...

"I think we should help him too." piped in Iggy. "Like Gazzy said, he's as good as one of the flock already. We can't exactly abandon him either. It wouldn't be fair on him."

Then out of the trees came Fang, carrying 3 rabbits, looking angry. "What do you mean help him!?" he hissed at us, being sure to make Will couldn't hear him. "You don't know anything about him! He could be a mole for all you know!"

"If he's a mole then why haven't the Erasers come then?" Nudge said sternly to Fang. "You may not know anything about him but we do! The only reason you don't is you don't trust him is because you haven't made an effort to get to know him!"

Fang looked at us, wide-eyed, and looked around at all of us. Seeing that none of us were going to be swayed, he threw the rabbits to the ground. "You can trust him if you want to, but I don't!" At this he began to storm off. "Enjoy your breakfast!" He walked off the way he came from, and into the tree line. None of us said anything. We were stunned. We had never heard Fang shout like that before. What was up with him? I looked around and thought I saw someone in the trees. I looked closer, and seeing nothing it, dismissed it.

Angel POV

"I'm going to go down to my stream, ok Max?" I said, already walking off.

"Ok, but be careful!" I heard her call back. Last night we had decided to help Will get to England and get his Emily back. Fang wasn't happy. He didn't trust him. I knew that Will was good, but Fang refused to believe it. I also knew that his parents were dead. I had read Max's mind last night. That was why I was going to the stream. For help on whether I should tell him or not.

I didn't think was fair that Max was keeping it a secret. Then again, I had some secrets she didn't know about. I arrived at the stream and put my hand in, cupped it, and sipped some water. Then making sure no-one was around, I bent down closer and whispered "Hello?"

Then I saw him, a small trout, at least that's what he called himself. He poked his head out the water and replied. "Hello Angel. How are you?"

"I'm ok, but I need some advice." I said to the fish. "I know something about Will, but I'm not sure whether I should tell him or not?"

"What about Max? Does she know?" The trout asked.

"Yes, but she doesn't know I know, and isn't going to tell Will." I replied.

"Well then I think you should confront her about it. Tell her what you would do, what you think she should do." He said confidently.

"OK then. I'm sure I can talk her round to my way of thinking." I smiled.

"Angel, you shouldn't abuse your powers, I've told you that before. You can't rely on your powers all the time." Trout warned.

"Ok then." I sighed. I suppose he was right but I still thought I should tell Will. "Thanks." I smiled at him.

"No problem" he replied. "Take care now."

"You too. Bye!" I got up and started back towards camp. I loved how I could talk to animals. I didn't mind that the others didn't know. It was my little secret. Sometimes it was nice to have your own secrets. But Will deserved to know about his parents.

I reached the camp and went up to Max, who was sitting in a tree across the camp. I jumped up and sat next to her.

"Hey sweetie." She said softly. "That was quick. What were you-"

"I think you should tell Will about his parents." I interrupted.

She didn't look surprised. "I thought I saw you looking at me strangely last night." She grinned.

"Well?" I asked.

"I know he deserves to know, but what with his sister and everything, I don't think he could handle it at the moment. He's already in a pretty sorry state. He hasn't said anything since last night." She looked at me calmly. "I'll talk to him, and I will tell him, but not yet. Soon."


	8. Changes

Chapter 8: Changes

Ari POV

I had been summoned to the Director's office. Finally! I wanted to know why I hadn't been able to go after the flock! They had been out in the forest, having fun for the past 3 days and he was letting them! It wasn't fair, them being outside, me being cooped up inside. It should be the other way round!

I arrived at his office, in the East Wing of the facility, where all the big business deals went on, as far away from the West Wing, as possible, where all the experiments and laboratories were. I knocked on the door and immediately they opened. I stepped into a gigantic room, the ceiling at least 3 stories high. The only way to describe the room was grandeur. Elaborate statues and polished wooden furniture everywhere. At the end of the room I could see the Director sitting behind his giant chintz desk. He was talking to someone on a video monitor on his desk. He looked up as I came in and in his loud authoritative Italian-American voice, he said "Yes sit down, sit down. I'll be with you in a minute."

I sat down in the lone chair he gestured to in front of the desk and waited for him to address me. He had greying black hair with a styled quiff and tanned skin. He was wearing a dark pin stripe suit, rimless glasses, and his signature gold Rolex. Although I couldn't see the person on the video monitor, I recognised that calm, reassuring voice, Jeb.

"So what are we going do about the girl?" I heard Jeb ask.

"We are going to move her to Facility B, for safety reasons." the Director replied.

"Can I ask what those safety reasons are Sir?" He asked.

I saw the Directors eyes flick up to me and then back down to the screen. "No not at the moment. Can I ask how you're coming along with bringing the suggestion program back online?"

"We should have it back up in the next couple of weeks, sir." I heard Jeb reply.

"Very good. I'll speak to you later." Said the Director and he pushed a button on the screen which turned it off. He put his hands together, leaned forward and spoke. "Now, Ari, the reason I've summoned you here is the little problem with the 'Flock'."

"Actually Sir, I was going to ask about that. Why haven't you let us get them back? Give me 6 Erasers and I'll guarantee them re-captured and in their cages by sundown." I said earnestly.

"Actually, that's impossible now." said the Director. "For you see you are the last Eraser left." I looked at him, confused, his dark eyes drawing me in. "I ordered their extermination 2 days ago. They are outdated now that we have developed an upgrade. The only reason you weren't among them was by request of your father." My father? What did he care if I lived or died? He hasn't cared about anything else I have done in my life. Unless you count turning me into an Eraser for his own experiments. Which I don't.

"Now you, you are strong, independent and have shown your resourcefulness on multiple occasions." Was he talking about me? "You are going to lead the upgrades. As a General of sorts. We need someone to keep them in line. And I believe you are suited for that role."

I was silent. I had no idea what to say. Did I just get promoted? "Can I ask what these upgrades are?" I breathed; shocked at this act of generosity from someone who is renowned for being brutal.

"No," he smiled. "I'll do you one better. I'll show you."

Fang POV

I was cold. Extremely cold. There was ice, everywhere. Darkness and ice. There was a rock on the floor. I picked it up and the coldness intensified, running up my spine, down my arms and into my hands. The rock froze in my hands. It dropped it and it shattered into a million pieces. It was so cold. I heard a voice. "Hey!"

My eyes opened. There was figure standing over me. It was dark. My eyes began to adjust to the light. I could make out a face. Will. "What do you want?" I said sleepily.

"Why don't you trust me?" he asked loudly. "I heard you speaking to the others earlier. What did I ever do to you?" It was a good job I slept far away from the others tonight. This would have woken them up for sure.

"Nothing." I said harshly. "You've never done anything to me as far as I know. But I just think they trust you too much. You've only been around us for a little over 2 weeks and they're accepting you. They keep saying that you're in it just as much as us, but you've only been like this for around 6 months maximum! We've been like this for our whole life!" I was getting angry now, all my frustration was venting out of me. "I feel for you losing your sister and everything, but so far you've done nothing for us! We've been helping you, you've been living of us and that annoys me!" I was almost shouting myself now. Will was staring at me, shocked but still with anger on his face. "The fact that all the others have accepted you so quickly too! They've just blanked me out!"

Will was staring, looking at me hard. After what seemed like an eternity, his face softened and he said "Look, if you think I'm trying to take your place n the flock or anything, I'm not. I just want to get my sister back and then get back to my parents. But I need you to do that. I'm thankful for what you have done for me, but when I get my sister back, I don't want anything to do with this world of experiments and powers and wings. I just want to get back to my normal life!" His face was angry yet sad. He looked like he might break down.

"Well that might be hard, because the others are becoming quite attached to you." I said quietly.

"Yeah, well too bad because I want to get on with my life. Now I don't know where you stand, but if you aren't going to help me then say so now, so I do know!" he shouted, his voice starting to crack.

I was silent for a long time. Did I want to help him? I wanted him out of our lives; let us carry on with ours and him with his and to do this, I would have to help him.

"Ok. I'll try and help. If it'll get rid of you quicker I'll help." I said.

"Fine." He said, sounding slightly confused as if he wasn't expecting me to say I would help. "Good!" and with that he walked off back towards the camp.

Max POV

Last night we decided that we were going to go to England to try and help Will. Fang did not like the idea. He didn't trust Will for some reason. If he just spent some time with him, maybe he would. Something was going on with Fang lately. He never usually spoke a lot, but he had been even more reclusive lately.

I haven't seen Fang since last night. I presume he had slept away from the camp, to angry or embarrassed to face us. This was strange too, Fang never shoed any emotion. He was always very steely and dark. He hardly ever expressed any of his emotions; it was even a rare sight to see him smile.

I went over to Will. He was asleep. He was murmuring his sister's name again. I had decided to tell him about his parents. Angel was right; it wasn't my place to keep it from him. He was murmuring and unsettled. "Hey Will?" I whispered, trying not to shock him. His eyes opened quickly and he sat up suddenly and shouted "I can't!" Then he looked around and saw me. "What just happened?" He asked. He was covered in sweat.

"It was a dream." I said reassuringly. "Everything's OK." He looked at me, wide eyed. "Come on, let's go for a walk." I helped him up and we walked into the forest towards the stream. When we were clear of the camp I began to speak.

"We talked about what we were going to do last night and we agreed that we would try to help you get to England, find your sister." He just looked at me, with no change to the expression on his face, as if he already knew. "But that's not what I wanted to say." We had reached the stream. "You see-" but he cut me off.

"Angel?" He called. I looked to where he was staring and saw Angel, leaning over into the water. She looked up at us and stood up very quickly and skipped over to us, her curly blonde hair, swinging in motion with the skipping. She reached us and looked up at us.

"Hi!" she said in her sweet innocent voice.

"Angel what were you doing?" I asked suspiciously.

"Oh, I was just looking at the fish." She said innocently. "I'll see you later!" and she skipped off back towards the camp. I watched her go, staring at her suspiciously. Then I looked at Will and him at me and he gave me a 'Don't ask me!' look.

Then he asked "So what was it you were going to tell me?"

I looked down at the ground, unsure of how to break it to him. "Umm, well you see-" I broke off. I couldn't do this. Will was looking at me, frowning. How could I just tell him his parents were dead? I prayed in my head for something to get me out of it. As if some higher power was reading my thoughts, I got it.

"Just tell him Max. He deserves to know." My eyes went wide and I took a step back. Was that what I thought it was? That is impossible!

Will looked at me, even more confused now. "Max, are you OK?"

"Max, tell him. Just do it." With that I unfurled my wings jumped up and flapped. I went 30ft in the air, and heard Will calling, "Max?! Where are you going?!" I tucked in my wings and then shot off as fast as I could, using my supersonic speed to my full ability. The world was going past in a blur as I sped up.

"You should have just told him Max." I screamed out in anguish, still speeding up, knowing that no matter how fast I flew, I couldn't get away from it.


	9. Flight

Chapter 9: Flight

Will POV

"So what was it you were going to tell me?"

Max looked down at the ground, as if she was struggling with something. "Umm, well you see-" she broke off. What was wrong? She looked like she wanted to say something important, but couldn't. Was she OK?

Suddenly her eyes went wide and she took a step back, as if shocked. She looked extremely confused.

"Max, are you OK?" I asked, bewildered. With that she unfurled her wings and flew into the air. "Max?! Where are you going?!" I shouted. Then suddenly she flew away at such a speed that it looked like she just disappeared.

"Max!?" I called, but there was no answer "MAX!" What on earth just went on? Was she OK? What should I do? I turned around and started running back towards camp. I passed Angel on the way and skidded to a halt beside her.

"Angel! Where's Fang or Iggy?" I asked urgently.

She looked at me suspiciously then said, "Iggy is at camp and I think Fang is getting firewood. Why?" but I had already started to run before camp. I reached it within seconds and saw Iggy.

"Iggy!" I called. He turned around as I ran up to him. "Iggy, its Max...she just... flew...something spooked her...flew off!" I wheezed, trying to catch my breath.

"Whoa! Slow down! What happened?" he said calmly.

I took a deep breath and replied "Max was about to tell me something, in the forest and then she went all wide eyed and shocked." I caught my breath. "Then she just flew up into the air and flew off really, _really_ fast!"

"She used supersonic speed?" asked Fang, coming out of the tree line. I nodded. "Well we are never going to catch up with her then. She can fly at 200mph. It will be easier for us to wait for her to come back on her own." I wasn't going to argue. With Max gone, as second eldest Fang was leader, and this was a matter regarding the flock, not me, so I had no real say in the decision. Besides, I would have no idea what I would do to find her. I would have to wait like the rest of the flock.

We were still waiting. I had explained what happened to the others numerous times. They had no clue what could have happened. We would just have to wait.

After about 3 hours we she came zooming into view and within seconds of us seeing her, she had reached us. Damn, she was quick! She hadn't even broken a sweat!

"Come on." She said urgently. "We've got to leave now." We all started at her completely dumbfounded. "Come on!" She shouted this time.

"Why?" asked Fang. "What the hell happened?!"

"There's no time! We have to go now!"

Iggy POV

"Max we've been flying for hours! What's going on? Can we not stop for a few minutes?" moaned Nudge.

"No." She replied sternly "We've got to keep going." We had been flying for around 4 hours non-stop. I had no idea where were going, which direction we were going or even where we were. I hated not knowing.

"We need a break Max!" I heard Gazzy say. "Will has never flown this far before!" I could hear Will, breathing heavily a bit behind us. He was struggling to keep up.

"Fine." She said. "15 minutes." We started to go down. I had to hold on to Gazzy's shirt to make sure I didn't crash into the ground.

We landed and I heard Will breathing heavily. "You OK Will?" I asked him.

"I'll be...fine." he wheezed. "Just not...used to flying...so much."

"So Max." asked Fang. "What's going on? Are you going to tell us?"

"I guess so. We've got some time." she sighed. I sat down, as did the others, on the hard rocky ground. From this, and where we had come from, I presumed we were in a mountainous region, maybe The Rockys. It would make sense seeing as the school was located in California.

There was silence, we were all waiting in suspense until finally she said, "I heard The Voice." I heard Nudge and Angel both gasp. Gazzy exclaimed "What?!" and I frowned. Although I couldn't see them, I guessed Fang's expression didn't change and that Will was just bewildered. He would have no idea what the voice was. As if he read my mind, Will asked, sounding completely bewildered, "What the hell is The Voice?"

"Yeah, well, back when I was saving the world, I had-" but Will interrupted her.

"Whoa, whoa, back up, back up! When you were saving the world? You never said anything about that!" he asked sounding even more confused than he already was, if that was possible.

"That's a looong story." I chuckled. "And there's not enough time in the world to tell it."

"Yeah, anyway." Max began. "When I was saving the world, the school somehow put this voice in my head. It would give me hints and help every now and again. I had no idea what it was, and they usually worked out, so I listened. All of it was leading up to me saving the world. Well, I did it, just not how they wanted me to and after that it went away. Haven't heard from it in about a year now, and if it is back then something is wrong."

"And it spoke to you when you were in the forest with Will?" Angel asked.

"Yep. That's why I flew off." Max replied. We were silent for a long time after that.

Then I said "So Max. What did the voice actually say to you?"

Ari POV

I was flying in the air, leading the upgrades. Only about 15 of them. They flew through the air smoothly and swiftly, although slowly, as they were designed to, whereas I, with my patchwork, 'Frankenstein' wings, was very stunted and shaky, although at least slightly faster than them.

"We're here! Move!" I barked. I dove down to the campsite, the upgrades following like children. We landed in the clearing, where there was a pile of ash with some embers still burning. It was obvious they had left, but they would have put the fire out if they were just moving on. The fact that they hadn't meant they knew we were coming.

Even though they would've left hours ago, I shouted orders at all but 1 of the upgrades to "Scout the area!" The upgrades all ran off in different directions, out of the clearing, leaving me with the one upgrade. I sat down on a log next to the remains of the fire and watched it.

It stood perfectly still and straight. Almost unrecognisably from an Eraser in full morph except for its glowing, red mechanical eyes and it's slightly thinner layer of scraggly brown fur. Below the fur, there was the metal shell of a wolf. A machine made of metal and wires and nothing more. And this was supposed to replace me?! That had replaced all the other Erasers. Ok so it couldn't feel pain and could predict all possible outcomes in a fight, but it didn't have instinct. Often, instinct was the thing which won you a fight.

I heard the upgrades coming back from the forest before I saw then, another design fault, they were very loud, on the ground and in the air. I would have to report that. Then I saw them come out. "Report!" I shouted at them.

"_No-Avian-Human-hybrids-detected-in-the-vicinity_." They all said, in their steely hard voice, in unison.

"Very well." I sighed. "Back to base!"


	10. The Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 10: The Calm Before the Storm

Max POV

'Max, tell him. Just do it.' With that I unfurled my wings jumped up and flapped. I went 30ft in the air, and heard Will calling, "Max?! Where are you going?!" I tucked in my wings and then shot off as fast as I could, using my supersonic speed to my full ability. The world was going past in a blur as I sped up.

'You should have just told him Max.' I screamed out in anguish, still speeding up, knowing that no matter how fast I flew, I couldn't get away from it. But I could try! I could fly, keep flying, fly until I wore myself out and I couldn't hear the voice anymore. Or even fly back to the school, get them to remove it. No! That was just stupid.

'Yes Max, that is stupid, and it is the exactly opposite thing to what you should do. You have to stop, Max. I have something you need to know." It said in its flat toneless voice. Still after years of having the voice, I could not tell whether it was a man's, women, or even child's voice. It was so even and level pitched that it would be impossible to tell.

"Why?!" I shouted out in anger. "Why do I have to stop?! Why should I listen to you?!"

'Because they know where you are, and they are coming.' It said. What?! What did it mean they are coming? 'I mean that they are coming Max, they are getting ready and are going to head out for your campsite.'

I slowed down, to normal flying speed and saw I was in a mountainous and rocky landscape. I saw a cave in one of the mountains. I flew down into it, and sat down on a protruding rock. Ok, I thought, what do you want?

'I told you. They are coming.' It replied.

"I know that!" I shouted, it echoing around the cave. "But who is coming? Whitecoats? Erasers?"

'No the Erasers are all gone. Their replacements are coming.' What did it mean the Erasers are gone? Have they disappeared or-

'They are all dead Max. They were deemed a liability and have been replaced.' It said bluntly. Replaced? Do you mean killed? How can they just kill them off?! They may be horrible killers but they are still humans deep down. They can't just do that!

'They can and they have. And the replacements are coming Max. You need to get back to the flock and get away. They are coming for you. They are preparing and will be there in a few hours. You need to go Max. They are coming. YOU NEED TO GO NOW!' I feel of my rock and landed hard on my back at this. I was shocked. The voice had never changed its tone, never raised its voice before, never shouted. Something was going to happen. The Voice had never been wrong before, had always helped when it said something, so I decided to take its advice. I got up, spread out my wings, and flew out the cave.

Nudge POV

We were silent. We all looked confused but Will looked the most bewildered. I don't think he fully understood what the voice was.

"So, this voice. It told you that they were coming. That these replacements for the Erasers are coming for us?" Will asked, bewildered.

"Yep. And it has never been so forward. It actually sounded like a person too. Something was going on. That's why I got us all to leave." She said bluntly.

"Do you think they are following?" I queried, scared.

"Most likely." Max answered. "That's why we've got to get moving again."

"No." Fang retorted. "It's getting dark, and we are all tired. We need to find somewhere to hole up for the night." Angel and Iggy nodded in agreement. Max looked around at us and gave in.

"Fine." Max gave in. "but we go 1st thing in the morning. Got it?"

We all said "Yes" or "Got it" in varying degrees of enthusiasm then stood up, unfurled our wings and took off.

It was night and I was on watch. We had found a large cave, home to pack of bats, but they didn't bother us. I could hear the gentle drip of water at the back of the cave. It was dark, maybe around 2:00 AM. I was sitting on the edge of the cave looking out to the large desert stretching as far as I could see. About 5 miles north I could faintly make out the Grand Canyon.

It was a clear night but there were clouds on the horizon. I heard someone moving behind me. I turned round and saw Max getting up. She came up to me and sat beside me.

"You alright?" she asked quietly. I nodded and wiped the dust from my eyes. "You need me to take over?" she asked.

"No, it's alright. It's only about half an hour till Fang's shift. I'll be fine." I yawned. "You can go back to sleep if you want?"

"No, it's alright. I can't sleep anyway." She replied. We were silent, and both looked out at the view. The cloud was moving towards us.

"Did you tell Will about his parents yet?" I asked.

"No, I haven't really had a chance what with the voice and the running away." She answered.

"When are you going to tell him?" I asked.

"What's with the interrogation?" She asked coolly.

"Nothing, it's just that he deserves to know by now." I retorted. She smiled at me and then looked back out of the cave.

"I will, in the next couple of days." She responded. I turned my head and looked back out of the cave. The cloud was coming in fast, very fast. Something about it didn't seem right. It wasn't changing shape like a cloud should. It was staying the same exact shape. Then I realised the wind. There wasn't any. Surely if the cloud was heading our way, that fast we should feel the wind in our faces? I could start to hear a low drone, getting steadily louder.

"Max? That cloud..." I trailed off.

"Yeah," She replied, eyeing the cloud suspiciously. "I know." I looked at the cloud. It was getting close now, no more than a couple of minutes away. I looked closer and, squinting, saw that it wasn't a cloud. It was hundreds upon hundreds of Erasers, flying together in close formation, heading right for us.

"Max!" I said loudly, over the drone, not trying to hide the anxiety in my voice.

"I know!" she replied, wide eyed. I looked back out at the Erasers and saw there was something different about them, their wings were all flapping at the exact same time, and there was a faint red glow coming from their heads. "Guys!" Max shouted down the cave. "They've found us!"

Gazzy POV

"Guys!" I heard Max shout as I jerked awake. "They've found us!" I stood up immediately, shaking off my drowsiness. I could hear a loud droning noise.

"Who have found us?" I heard Will ask behind me as I ran out to the front of the cave and looked up at the hundreds of Erasers heading for us.

"Who do you think?!" I shouted. He ran up beside me and looked up.

"Oh crap!" he shouted. "I thought you said they were all dead!" He screamed back at Max.

"They must be the replacements!" Max shouted back. Just then a shadow was cast over us as the Erasers got closer and blocked out the light from the moon.

"What are we going to do?!" Nudge shouted over the drone which was extremely loud now.

"Gazzy! How many grenades do you have left!?" I heard Fang shout.

"About 5 maybe, I don't know!" I shouted back, trying to figure out how many I had.

"Right! Use them! All of them! Everyone else, get ready!" Max ordered. It was very dark, and hard to see where everyone was. I ran to where I thought my backpack was and grabbed the grenades inside. Five I counted. I ran back to the mouth oft the cave, where the noise was deafening. I pulled the pin from one and threw it into the black sheet that was only about 50 feet away now.

There was a large explosion and I saw a few of them were hit and then blow up themselves. But the explosion lit up the area for a few seconds, and all I could see were the Erasers. Hundreds, maybe thousands of them, in all directions. I thought I heard a voice shout over the droning but couldn't be sure. There was no way we could fight all these off. I pulled the pins off the remaining four grenades at the same time and threw them out. I ran back in to the cave and then felt the shockwave of the explosions and the cave lit up.

"How many are there?!" Iggy shouted over the droning.

"There are hundreds of them!" I screamed back, the noise ear-piercingly loud now, it hurt my head so much. I looked at Iggy, whose face was strained. If it hurt my head, Iggy must be in agony. "There's no way we are going to be able to fight them all off!" I shouted at the flock.

"Well we'll have to try!" Max shouted back, over the noise of the droning. "We're not going down without a-" but she was cut short when the droning suddenly stopped. We all looked out of the cave in silence. Then we saw the 1st of them come through, walking slowly towards us. They moved with precision and accuracy, but slowly, as if they were heavy.

"I can't control them!" Angel shouted frantically. "They're not alive! I can't control them!" More of them were coming through the cave now, at least 20 of them and more coming in.

"It's OK." I said reassuringly to her. "I'll look after you." They were 10 feet away from us now. We all tensed our bodies getting ready to fight.

"Get ready!" Max shouted, as they started to charge towards us. There was no way we would ever be able to beat them.


	11. The Storm

Chapter 11: The Storm

Angel POV

Suddenly the droning stopped. We all stared out of the cave in silence. Then the 1st of them came through the mouth of the cave, walking towards us. I closed my eyes and started to try and find the Erasers minds. I tried and tried but I could not pick anything up. Just a grey fuzzy blank from all of them. I could feel their presence, but they weren't giving off any thoughts at all! I couldn't make them do anything!

"I can't control them!" I shouted. "They're not alive! I can't control them!" There were many of them in the cave now. All walking steadily towards us.

"It's OK." Gazzy replied softly. "I'll look after you." They were 10 feet away now. We all tensed our bodies getting ready to fight. A whole lot of good I would do. The only way I knew how to properly fight, was by controlling their minds. I if couldn't do that, I was useless.

"Get ready!" Max shouted, as they started to charge towards us. There was no way we would be able to beat them.

They reached us, barely 2 feet away and stopped. "_You-must-come-with-us. You-will-comply."_ they chanted in a steely, robotic voice.

"Like thats going to happen!" shouted Max.

"_Then-we-shall-take-you-forcefully." _they replied in unison. Then they attacked. They defiantly weren't alive. Nothing with glowing red eyes could be alive. I moved back, behind the flock who were throwing punches, kicking at them. They were doing fairly well. A few heads had been dislodged and were hanging awkwardly on the side.

What use was I if I couldn't help the flock? I was too small to try and fight them hand to hand. I was just a liability now. The flock were getting pushed back, there had to be about 50 of the robots, packed into the cave now, pushing them further into the cave. They started to come round the sides, attack from behind I ran further into the cave hiding behind a rock for protection. A couple of them got through and started to attack Nudge. She was having trouble holding them off from in front and behind.

Why was I just hiding? I had to help, I couln'd be completley useless. The Robots hadn't seen me yet, so I ran up to it and jumped on its back. I covered its eyes with my hands and it started to thrash. It tried to reach behind and grab me but its arms couldnt reach behind them.

I started to pull at its head as hard as I could. I pulled and pulled and eventually I heard something snap. Then its head just fell out of its neck and the body fell to the floor. I jumped off before it fell and then looked in the hole where its head had been. Wires and gears. Defiantly a robot.

Suddenly without warning something behind me picked me up, large metal hands grabbing me by the waist. I started to kick and scream, try to pry the hands away from me, but I wasn't strong enough. "Help!" I screamed at the flock, as it put me under its arm and began to carry me away. "Max, Gazzy! Help!" I saw a bruised and battered Gazzy turn around and come running towards me. He reached us and started to throw punches and kick the robot before it picked him up with the other arm and carried on walking.

It went past the fight, where the flock had been backed up against the side of the cave now, still fighting off the countless number of robots. As they dodged and ducked, the robots punched the wall, leaving large cracks in it. I heard Nudge shout after us and turned my head to see her try to push through the Robots towards us, away from the others.

Then we reached the mouth of the cave and the Robot opened it's thin, metal wings and jumped into the air. Slowly it started to fly into the air away from the cave. It reached a small group of Robots who were hovering in the air and gave Gazzy, who was still kicking and punching, trying to get out of the grip and fly off, to one of them.

Gazzy was then injected with a needle and fell slump in the arm of the Robot. My eyes went wide. Had they just killed him!? I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on picking something up from Gazzy. But before I could I felt something sharp go into my neck. Almost instantly, the noise of the fight in the cave disappeared, and my eyes stayed closed.

Fang POV

All of a sudden, the droning ceased. We stared out the cave, tensing our bodies ready for the ensuing battle. Then the 1st of them began to come through, walking towards us slowly. They bought the cold in with them, a chill ran down my whole body, spreading to my hands, the cold lingering there.

"I can't control them!" Angel panicked. "They're not alive! I can't control them!" There were many more coming in now, around 20, and more coming in after them.

"It's OK." Gazzy said reassuringly to Angel. "I'll look after you." They were 10 feet away from us now.

"Get ready!" Max shouted, as they started to charge towards us. There was no way we would be able to beat them. But we could try.

They reached us and then stood there and said in a steely metal voice, "_You-must-come-with-us__. You-will-comply.__"_

"Like thats going to happen!" shouted Max.

"_Then-we-shall-take-you-forcefully." _they replied. Then they attacked. 3 of them came at me, one trying to grab me, the other two threw punches. I ducked and swung my foot round at their legs. It hit into the one of their legs and felt like a metal ball had been thrown at my shin. OW! One of them picked me up and the cold in my body intesified.

Will was on fire. He was knocking the heads off countless numbers of them, punching some of them 6 feet back, knocking some over in a domino effect. Some of them had gotten round the side of us and were attacking Nudge. Angel came running at the robot and jumped on its back. Then one of the robots picked me up and started punching my stomach. Once, twice, before it could do it again, I threw my head forward and head butted it. Its head came out of its socket and the body fell to the ground. One down, over a hundred to go!

I saw one of them leaving the cave with Angel and Gazzy under each arm. Nudge saw them too and starting pushing into the crowd of robots to try to get them. She was soon lost in a sea of machines. "Nudge!" Max shouted as she kicked one of them to the floor. "Nudge, where ar-" A robot struck her in the head and knocked her out cold before she could finish. It picked her up and started to walk away.

The cold spread out through my whole body"MAX!" I screamed after her. I tried to push myself into the swarm, punching and kicking my way through to go and help her but there were too many robots in the way, and they pushed my back against the wall. There was only me, Will and Iggy le- Where is Iggy!? He was on my right a second ago. Now he was gone.

I didn't have time to worry, or look for him, as another one came at me. The cold was constant now, rushing through my body, through my veins, to every corner of my being. But I wasn't shivering. I grabbed its head, intending to twist it off but the coldness swept to my hands and its head froze instantly, and shattered into pieces under my grip. Whoa! What happened there? Did I just freeze its head? How is tha- SMACK! One of them hit me in the head. And then again. And again.

Darkness…

Will POV

The noise stopped. All of us looked out of the cave in silence. Then the 1st of them came through, walking slowly towards us. I felt something in my hands. That power I felt before, it was returning. I could feel it surging, moving round my body.

"I can't control them!" I heard Angel shout. "They're not alive! I can't control them!" The power was growing, surging, stronger than before. There were more coming into the cave now.

"It's OK." I thought I heard Gazzy say. "I'll look after you." Everything was going quiet, not in a bad way, just as if my mind was blanking it out.

They were 10 feet away from us now. We all tensed our bodies getting ready to fight. Max shouted something, but I couldn't make out what it was the power was too intense, blocking everything out apart from the power, and the coming battle. All i could hear was my heartbeat, but it sounded dull and distant. They started to charge towards us. I could beat them. I could feel it.

They reached us and then stopped and just stood there. Then their mouths moved, but all i could hear was the _THUMP THUMP THUMP _of my heart, getting steadily faster.

Then they attacked. Or rather I attacked them. One lunged at me and I felt the power surge as I threw my fist at its head, crushing it into a crumpled mess. Whoa! Another came at me and I kicked it to the floor with ease.

Some of them were coming round the back of us and attacking Nudge, and I saw Angel jump on one of their backs and pull off its head. Another lunged towards me but I parried it away with a punch to the face, causing its head to come loose.

My mind suddenly became aware of the others when I saw Nudge running towards the robots after what appeared to be Angel and Gazzy being carried away. Then I saw Max getting knocked out and picked up and taken away too. Iggy seemed to be faring well considering he couldn't see, as was Fang. We had been backed up against the wall of the cave now. Two more came at me, one striking me in the chest, the other in the stomach, but I used the momentum from being thrown back to kick one of them away.

I still landed on the floor and looked up to see Iggy gone and Fang holding one of the Robots head, looking confused. Then the head then seemed to frost over, as if it had frozen and then shatter. I looked at Fang, who seemed completely dumbfounded. Then a robot got a hold of him in his stupor, punched him in the face 3 times and Fang fell onto the floor, unconscious.

I was the only one left; I was beginning to think I couldn't win. Suddenly a large hand picked me up by the neck and started punching my stomach. I pushed my back against the now weak rock face and kicked my legs forward, propelling it into the crowd, knocking over many of the robots. But there were so many of them now, at least 50. They formed a semi-circle around me, wary of my strength.

The surging feeling was still there, but getting weaker now, I could start to hear things again. I thought I could faintly hear the robots saying something about going with them.

They all attacked at once, charging at me, I braced for impact and then felt them land on top of me. They were so heavy; I screamed out in pain, I could hear it quite clearly. That couldn't be good. The surging feeling was almost gone. I mustered up as much strength as I could and pushed up, throwing them off me, around the cave. I stood up, the surging feeling completely gone, my sense of hearing back, my fight as good as over. If I was going to go down, I was going to go down in style. There were still a good 30 or so of them left in the cave, most likely more outside. One came at me and I charged at it, throwing my fists.

One of them connected and I heard a crack. Then pain. Oh god that hurt! Then it punched me in the face, and again, and I fell limp to the floor and blacked out.


	12. Waking Up Is Hard To Do

Fight or Flight

Part 2 - Near & Far

Chapter 12: Waking Up Is Hard To Do

Max POV

My eyes snapped open. White. An extremely bright white light. I closed my eyes again almost instantly, the light making them hurt. I opened them again, slowly his time, letting my pupils adjust, which didn't take long for someone who was half-bird, half-human. What was this light? Was I dead?

My head suddenly felt like it was going to explode. I didn't get headaches very often but when I did, they were bad. And I mean bad. Like having your head torn open and having someone bang a sledgehammer on the inside of your skull bad. The pain was too intense. The light started to fade and I slipped back into unconsciousness, away from the light, and into the darkness.

Nudge POV

I jerked awake and sat up instantly. I had been having a dream. Something about the sea and a fight in the air. Some sort of flash too. The more I though about it the less I remembered and pretty soon, I had forgotten it completely.

I looked around, which was pretty pointless. Even with the eyes of a half-bird, half-human, I couldn't see much. It was almost pitch black. I could make out the fain outline of bars next to me and more around the room. The smell as well! It was horrible! I had a strong suspicion of where I was and feared the worse.

All of a sudden there was a noise. Someone groaning. I went still and held my breath. I could hear them, their breathing getting heavier. How had I not heard their breathing before? I heard them shuffle, and pinpointed where they were in the room. I could still not see them though. Then the person called out.

"Nudge? Is that you?" I breathed again. Angel.

"Yes it's me. Are you OK? How did you know it was me?" I asked hurriedly.

"I sensed you," She said tiredly. "And I'm fine. Where are we?"

"I not sure.' I lied. "Can you sense the others?" I asked quickly before she could figure out I was lying.

She paused for a second, and then said "No. But it doesn't mean they aren't close."

We were silent for a long time after that. I wanted to ask a thousand questions, but held my tongue, like Max would have done. Instead I tried to think of a plan, but I came up short. With only the two of us, it would be almost impossible; there would be no chance of escape. Then, as if God himself had been listening, that all changed.

Max POV

My eyes snapped open, again. Only I didn't close them straight away this time. The light was dimmer. I could see now that it was a normal light, just quite bright. I tried to get up but my arms and legs wouldn't move. I looked down at them and saw they wee in large metal brackets, holding them in place. I sighed and looked round the room.

It was exactly like a hospital ward. White, clean, the strong smell of antiseptic in the air, which I hated, and beds at regular intervals all around the room, with a door on left of the room. Except these beds had no cushions or covers. They were flat and shiny. Metal beds, all with brackets just like mine I couldn't see my bed properly, because it hurt to move my neck, but I presumed it was same from the hard cold feel of it on my back.

I decided it was best to get out of here as soon as possible. I had a strong feeling I knew where I was, and wanted nothing more than to find the flock and get out. I started to pull my arms up, hoping to break out of the brackets. I had broken out of tougher things than this. I should be able to make short work of this. As a half-bird, I was stronger than most human adults. Although I only weighed around 100 pounds, I had hidden muscles.

I should have been able to break out, but couldn't. After struggling for around 10 minutes I was completely worn out and extremely tired. It had drained me a lot. More than it should have done. As I lay there, wondering why I could not break out, I slowly but surely drifted off to sleep.

Nudge POV

There was a noise, it sounded like it was coming form outside the room, someone struggling. There was the sound of a door opening and then a flick of a switch. A dim light flickered on. It took a couple of seconds for my eyes to adjust and when they did I saw a whitecoat. He was pulling a boy along behind him and walked into the room, opened the cage and threw the boy in. He locked the cage behind him, walked out the room and closed the door behind him.

The boy was small, around 8 years old, had matted brown hair and could mimic almost any voice with ease. It was Gazzy. He was slumped down in the corner of the cage his head resting against one of he bars, his fringe covering his eyes. I hadn't noticed a fringe before on him. I looked at my hair and saw it was at least an inch longer. How long had we been down here?!

"Gazzy!" I called out to him. "Gazzy can you hear me?" He just lay there, breathing regularly.

"Do you think he's OK?" Angel asked worriedly. I looked over at her and saw that her hair had grown noticeably too. It had also turned very scraggly and the natural wisps had gone.

"He looks fine but there is no telling until he wakes up" I replied confidently. With Max, Fang, Iggy, and Will too I suppose, not present it was up to me to take charge, to be the leader and take care of this part of the flock. I had to act confident, strong like I always knew what to do, even when I didn't. I had to act like Max.

"That's if he wakes up." Angel replied quietly.

Max POV

There was a sharp pain in my neck. I opened my eyes to see a man standing over me. He was middle aged, bald, with white hair around the back of his head. He had a white goatee and wore a white scientist's coat. To anyone else, they would have thought him just another whitecoat, but to the flock, and me he was Jeb Batchelder. The man who had taken care of me and the flock for 4 years of our life, before betraying us. He was standing over me, injecting me with something, into my neck. Before I could try to move away he had removed the needle and taken a step back.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him weakly.

"Well, Max," He replied in his soft, reassuring voice. "I have just injected you with a serum which weakens your muscles, so you can't escape, and now I am standing here talking to you." He smiled. I didn't.

"Why would you do that?" I slurred. It already seemed to be taking effect.

"Well otherwise you could easily breakout of these." He laughed, pointing to the brackets. "It might have a side effect too."

"Well what's that?" I asked confused.

"It will make you a bit slow to realize things." He chuckled. I thought about this, wondering what he meant. Then I realized.

"Oh, right, that makes sense." I said flatly. Just because I was doped up, didn't mean that it would make me like Jeb, even if he tried to make me.

"Why did you bring me back here?" I asked. "We've broken out before, we can do it again."

"Ah yes, but you don't even know where you are." He smiled.

"Well it's kind of obvious. Metal beds, hospital wards and psychotic scientists. It's obviously the school." I sneered.

"Ah that's where you're wrong! We are in a place called Facility B!" He laughed. I paused.

"Where's that?" I asked, even though I already knew.

"Ah, I can't tell you that now can I!" He smiled.

"No I suppose not." I mused. Suddenly there was a bang outside the room, some shouting and heard someone screaming in anger. We looked towards the door as a whitecoat ran in through the door, just as an alarm went off.

"Jeb! We need help!" He shouted. "He's got ou-" but he was cut off as another whitecoat came flying through the doors, unconscious landing on top of him, knocking him out. There were more sounds of scuffles outside, a few more bangs then silence.

"Wait here!" Jeb said to me before he ran through the doors. Like I could do anything else. I could hear the muffled sounds of talking, and a bang. The talking continued. I could make out any of it. After what seemed like a long drug induced age, which it was, a familiar figure walked through the door.

Ari POV

I walked down a dark dingy corridor. The walls were damp, and the wallpaper had turned a dirty brown. It wasn't nice, but it was the only way to get there. I came up to a large metal door, which looked completely out of place. There was a keypad next to it and I typed in the code.

The door slid open, revealing the size of it. 5 feet thick, steel plated. It was designed to keep things in, and out. I stepped through and it slid closed behind me, making a large clunking sound as it did. The room I entered was grey concrete everywhere, with some industrial pipes going along the ceiling. There was a large window to the left of the room, with another metal door next to it.

On the other side of the window was a room with the same grey, industrial feel to it. The walls had large cracks and dents in, as if they had been hit with a sledgehammer repeatedly. Inside were a basic metal bed, and a toilet. On the bed was a sleeping boy, around 15 years old, scraggly, unkempt brown hair, wearing dirty, torn clothes.

I stepped up to the window and watched. He was tossing and turning in his sleep, muttering his sisters' name over and over again. I decided to get on with what I'd been sent here to do.

"Will! Wake up!" I shouted. He jerked awake and sat up and looked at me.

Then he said, "When are you going to do it?"

"When am I going to do what?" I asked back.

"Kill me!" he shouted angrily. "You've kept me here, for over a month, asking me questions, I don't know the answers to!" He paused, his eyes glowing. "Yet you're feeding me, keeping me alive. And for what?! You made me this way; you should already have known everything! I don't even think my sister is alive anymore-"

"Oh she's alive Will! I can get someone to bring her here right now if you want?" I queried. Will laughed maniacally, and then smiled.

"Go on then!" He shouted. "Humour me!" and then he laughed again and lay back down on his bed and started to whistle. I took the walkie out my pocket and ordered a whitecoat to bring her here.

I waited about 5 minutes, whilst Will just lay there whistling to himself. Then I heard the door behind me open and I walked over to it. A small girl, with strawberry blonde hair walked through, with a scientist escorting her. The door closed and I led the girl to the window. "Will!" I called. He looked up and saw Emily. He went wide-eyed then ran over to the window.

"Emily! Are you OK? Have they hurt you? Are you OK?" He asked frantically.

"Can we go home soon Will? I don't like it here." She moaned through the glass.

"Yes, yes, I'll take you home soon OK? I'm going to get you home!" He cried putting his hands up against the window, as if he could reach through.

I smiled, and then shouted "Right, that's enough! Take her away!" I said to the scientist.

"No no no no! Please! Don't take her! PLEASE!" Will screamed, but they had already left. Will walked over to the wall and shouted out as loud as he could, slamming his fists into the wall, leaving large cracks in the concrete.

"Now Will, if you ever want to see your sister again, you are going to have to do something for us." I said calmly as he slumped down against the wall and broke down in tears.

"What do you want me to do?" He cried. I smiled darkly and began to tell him.


	13. Deserted

Chapter 13: Deserted

Fang POV

…just the intense perpetual darkness. Surrounding me, like a shadow in the night, blocking out everything around it. I try to move, but nothing reacts. I can't even look down at my body to make sure its still there. It doesn't feel like its there. It just feels numb, like I have no body, that I'm just a soul floating around in nothingness.

The possibility that I'm dead enters my mind again, but it is soon quenched by the pressure which starts to build around me. Pushing in on me from all directions, pushing into my heart, my very being. Although it doesn't hurt as such, it's just extremely uncomfortable.

I begin to count the seconds in my head, waiting for the signal which will tell me that it will soon be over, for now. As I get to 82 I start to feel the pressure subsiding. It's ending earlier than usual. Then the noise begins. Like a dial-up modem connecting to the internet, except it goes on for so much longer, and is so much more irritating.

After what seemed like hours, but as far as I know it could have been anything from seconds to years, it ended, and the darkness began to fade out. In its place was the usual basic landscape I had become accustomed to. The same forest to the left, the trees flowing in the same fluid motion in the wind as they always did. Mountains all around the horizon, long expansive fields in all directions, a large gushing river, jutting through the land ahead.

I was flying as usual, along with the rest of the flock. The real flock. Just the 6 of us. No Will. We were all in the same basic clothes as we always were. Trainers, jeans, white t-shirts. I didn't know how we got here, why we were here, why we all had matching clothes or where we were flying. I had just learnt not to question it.

The rest of the flock were looking straight ahead as if transfixed by something, not talking, or doing anything apart from flying towards this unseen wonder. But I have learnt it is better not to question what is going on, and just get on with it in the hope that this will end soon.

We fly across the river, but it makes no sound. The water is splashing and gushing, but no noise comes from it whatsoever. I look up towards the sun, which is high in the sky, knowing what will come next. I try with all my might to keep my eyes open in the glare of the sun, but after a few seconds, I blink, and then they appear. All around us, at least 50 of them. Their thin layer of scraggly fur, blowing in the wind, the bright glare of the sun shining through it, so we could see the metal shell underneath, the fearsome red glowing eyes, all of them staring right at us.

They form a sphere around us, blocking out the sun to make it seem like its late evening. Then they all shoot towards us. Well this was a new tactic. 5 of them came towards me from different directions, and I had to judge carefully when to quickly dart out of the way, so they all crashed into each other, and so I didn't hit into anyone, or thing, else. 4 of the 5 did what I intended them to do, and ended up crashing into the river below, whilst one pulled was able to fly shakily away, too damaged to continue fighting.

I heard the screams and shouts of Gazzy and Angel, they had obviously been taken, so it was too late to save them, and I could see Max dispatching of two of the Robots by grabbing their heads and smashing them together. I flew over to her, kicking and punching at as many robots as I could on my way.

When I reached her, I tried to protect her as best I could. Although I probably doomed Iggy and Nudge, I had come to terms with the fact we had a much better chance of getting through the fight with her than the two of them. She was my biggest asset at the moment, and I had to do all I could to stop the Robots getting her. Being in fight after fight after fight will teach you this.

After destroying a few more Robots, they all seemed to converge on me and Max. This meant they had taken care of Iggy and Nudge. There were about 30 of them left. This wasn't good. The only time I had ever gotten through a fight with just me and Max, there had only been 15 of them.

I managed to knock 2 of them down, before Max became overwhelmed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her fall into the river below. With that I stopped fighting, and resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to win this time. When 3 of them came at me, I didn't defend myself, and let them pummel me with a barrage of fist, before falling into the river below and blacking out. And then there it was again. Darkness... ...Just the intense perpetual darkness.

Gazzy POV

My eyes snapped open. I was lying on my back in the dirt. Only it was bumpy and gravelly. I was staring up at what appeared to be rock or concrete, and it was fairly dark.  
I tilt my head to the left and right, and see the same grey smooth concrete on either side. I tilt my head forward and see what I can only describe as light at the end of a tunnel.

Turning over and looking the other way, I see the same thing, only further away. Where on earth was I? How the hell did I get here? I attempt to stand, but my legs are like jelly and after 5 seconds I'm back on my back. What was going on?

Suddenly, my brain caught up with me and I remembered what had happened. My mind flashed to the fight, trying to protect Angel, getting caught, taken away from the rest of the flock, a sharp pain in my neck, and then, nothing. My mind was blank after that.

My mind came to only one conclusion. We had been caught. We had been caught and this was one of the Whitecoats strange experiments. There could be no other explanation. If the rest of the flock had somehow saved me, at least one of them would be here, they wouldn't leave me alone.

I tried to get up again, this time supporting myself against the wall of this 'cave'. I managed to stand up, although I wobbled a lot. I thought I should make my way to the light. Although I could stay here, it was very hot, and I would soon need to find some water. Better to go now, while I still had the energy.

It took 10 minutes of wobbling and stumbling through the 'cave' for my legs to return to normal, and by that time I had reached the end and what I saw stunned me completely. The desert. The same desert we were in when the fight happened. I wasn't sure what to think. On the one hand, I wasn't captured. I didn't have to endure the terrible things the school would probably do to me. On the other hand, I would have to endure the fact that they are doing those terrible things to the flock.

Also, a question I had to ask was how on earth did I get in the cave? I turned around to examine it, and I realised what it was. It was a tunnel, the type used by trains. There must have been a train line here once. Still, it didn't explain how I got in there. I could only think of 2 explanations. Someone put me there, or this was some kind of simulation, and I had been captured, and was currently in the school.

If that was so, then there wasn't much I could do about it, except live it out till someone rescued me or they take me out of it themselves. I'd been in one before a few years ago just reliving the same point over and over again. It was terrible and was so relieved when they told me they'd done all he study they needed.

I remembered that I had come out for water, and remembered there was a stream not too far east from where the cave where the fight took place, was. If I could find the cave, I could find he stream. I flew up into the air, to see if any of the surrounding area was at all familiar. But before I got 25 feet into the air, I saw a small speck in the distance, flying towards me. I quickly darted back down, and behind a boulder to the right of the tunnel for cover.

I wanted to poke my head over the boulder, to see if I could tell whether it was one of the flock, an eraser or something else, but my hair would be clearly visible to anything on this red landscape, so I resisted the urge. I sat with my back against the rock, listening intently to the noise the wings were making. There was no creak or mechanical sound coming from it, so my mind ruled out the robots. But it still didn't mean it was good.

As the sounds of the wing beats got closer, my body tensed. It must have seen me when I was in the air, and was heading towards me. I heard the sound of it landing, and it started to walk towards the tunnel. I shifted myself round the side of the rock, so I wouldn't be seen, when its footsteps stopped. I froze. Had it heard me? The footsteps got a lot quieter, and I had to strain to hear that it was now coming towards me. I tensed my body, ready to strike should they get to close.

I prayed in my mind that whoever it was, they moved on. With my back still to the rock, I tilted my head back as far it would go, and saw their ginger hair poking over the top of the rock. Then the person said sarcastically, "It's bad enough I wouldn't be able to see you anyway, but now you're hiding from me? That's just uncalled for dude."

My body relaxed and my eyes widened with joy. I jumped out from the rock and wrapped my arms around Iggy and hugged him tightly. He jumped back in surprise and then laughed as he threw me off him. "Yeah, I'm glad to see you too, well; I say see, but next time, not so eagerly OK?"

"Sorry Ig', just glad to see you." I said, hurt.  
"I'm only joking you idiot!" He said as he grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and hugged me back.

"You haven't got any water have you?" I asked, stepping back from him.

"Sorry, I went down to the stream, and would have bought some back, but I had nothing to carry it in." He replied.

"Well, do you think we should go back to the cave, see if anyone else is there?" I queried.

"Well I went back there on my way to the stream, but couldn't hear anyone. I tried to find some supplies, but some working eyes would have helped." he said sagely.

"Then it's a good thing you got me to keep an eye out for you!" I laughed. "Shall we go?"

Iggy POV 

I had absolutely no idea what was going on. The robots were everywhere as far as I could tell. I could hear them bumping and clanking together as they squeezed themselves into the cave. I had kept back mostly, kicking or punching wherever I thought one of them was if I felt them get to close. After a few minutes, I realised this wasn't going to work, so I lashed out.

This, however, only lasted a few seconds before I was knocked to the floor by one of them. They started to walk over and around me, as if the flock were backing away. I tried to get up but I just hit my head hard on the metal of one of the robots. I tried to turn around, to see if I could hear the others more easily, but there wasn't any room in all the legs of the machines and I doubted I would be able to anyway, over the noise of the clanking and stomping of their feet.

I thought I heard Max's voice call out over all the noise, although barely. I could just make out her calling, "Nudge, where ar-" before she was abruptly cut off.

I had no idea where the sound of her voice was coming from, and decided there wouldn't be much I could do anyway, so I just started crawling. As fast as I could, I just kept going, banging my head against metal and rock a lot along the way, until I felt wind on my face. The wind gave me fresh hope. If I could feel wind, then I was near the entrance, which meant I could fly away. I crawled faster, but soon realised, I didn't need to crawl anymore. There were no more metal legs around me. I could feel the wind and rain blowing on my face. I lay down for a few seconds to catch my breath, and figure out which direction it was coming from. I could still hear the clanking and banging behind me, and knew it was only a matter of time before they saw me lying here.

With that I stood up, and ran into the rain as fast as I could. After exactly 8 steps, the ground beneath me vanished as I unfurled my wings and took off. I could hear the mechanical sounds of the robots above, below, all around me. If I was going to get out, it would require all the luck in the world.

I kept flying, if I stayed still, I'd be a sitting duck, they may already have seen me, all I had was to keep flying. Suddenly I crashed into something hard, at the same time as an almighty crashing rumble took place overhead. They both took me by complete surprise, and along with whatever I had hit, plummeted to the earth below.

However, it was further down than I expected, and, rather than fall to my likely demise, I thought it might be a better idea to start flapping again. As I did, my hand brushed a soft, silky surface. Instantly, I dropped down again, trying to catch it up. I had no idea how much further it was to the ground, but it seemed that that luck was on my side, as I felt the soft silkiness again, and pushed myself forward and grabbed Gazzy under his arms.

Then, as fast as I could with the added weight, I flew out of one storm, and into another.

"So you flew into the robot which was carrying me?" Gazzy asked me.

"Yep!" I replied happily. "Talk about luck!" We were in the cave where the fight had taken place the night before. From what Gazzy had told me, the floor was littered with parts of the robots. A head here, a body there, a few legs and arms thrown into the mix. As I had told him how I found him, he had collected what he could from the left behind supplies.

"That's more than luck!" Gazzy said thoughtfully. "So how'd you find the tunnel?"

"I heard the wind whistling through it." I said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"And you have no idea what happened to any of the others?" he asked worried.

"No." I said sorrowfully. We were both silent for a while after that, and I knew that Gazzy was thinking the same thing as me. It was a slow, hesitational race to say it, but he got there first.

"So?" Gazzy began. "What do we do now?"


	14. Focus

Chapter 14: Focus

Will POV

I walked through the large swinging doors. I looked around the room, the power surging. The power. The anger. There were lots of metal beds, a strong smell of antiseptic. On a bed on the left lay a bemused looking Max. "Will?" she slurred. "Where's Jeb? How'd you get here?" I ignored her questions. She was drugged.

"Come on we've got to go. We're getting the others and getting out of here." I said forcefully, walking up to her, and tearing the binds holding her arms and legs in place, off the bed. I heaved her up and stood her on her feet.

"Will, I don't think I'm up to this at the moment." She mumbled. I pushed her forward and out of the room.

"No, it's now or never. Now let's move!" I shouted at her, willing her to move. She looked around the corridor, at the carnage and mess. I tried not to look. Blood and guts thrown strewn everywhere, streaks of flesh thrown on the ceiling. Their torn and ripped bodies jumbled up against the cracked wall and on the floor, which was wet with blood.

Max went wide-eyed, and went pale. "Will! What happened did u do this!?" she breathed. I pushed her onwards wanting to get away from here as quickly as possible. I looked down at my red hands, disgusted with myself, but pushed onwards.

We left the carnage behind us and went down a long tiled corridor, our shoes leaving red footprints behind us. "Will, what happened?!" Max asked as we jogged along.

"It doesn't matter, what is done is done, we can't change that now." I said solemnly. "Our best course of action is to find Fang. Once we've done that everything will be ok."

"What do you mean, what about the others? Angel, Gazzy, Nudge? What about Emily?" she pressed.

"I know where Emily is going to be! Fang will find the others!" I said and carried on jogging. There were no alarms, no one following us, but Max in her current state didn't notice. But if we didn't hurry that would all change.

At the end of the tiled corridor there was a door. We ran through, into another corridor, only this one was grey, and steely. "We're here." I said to Max and stopped outside the 3rd door on the right. The power had faded away while running, so I closed my eyes and concentrated.

"Will, what are you-" Max began, confused.

"Shut up! I need to concentrate." I shouted at her. I focused on the memory. Thinking back to the night I was taken. Remembering Emily crying, my parents shouting. The rage surfaced. The power flowed through my veins. I opened my eyes, looked at Max and said "You might want to stand back." She looked at me, scared, and stepped back a couple of paces. I forced the power down into my hands. I leaned back and punched the door, leaving a large hole in it. I put my hands round the hole, and started to pull, tearing the metal like paper. I kept pulling until there was nothing left of the door, except for a large torn hole.

I walked through and looked around. There were large computers, taller than me up against the wall on the left. On the right was a chair with a familiar, pale, blacked haired figure in the chair, with pads stuck all over his body, tubes leading into his arms and mouth. They all joined up in a large wire and went up and along the wall and through to the next room. There was a door on that wall saying Tactical Simulation on it. Max hadn't come in yet, she was too scared.

"Max! Get in here and help with Fang!"

Fang POV

I was getting sick of this. I had beaten it only a handful of times and it never made a difference except it was harder the next time. I decided to try a new tactic. We were about to pass the river, but this time I flew down, onto its bank. The flock followed. Fighting in the air had hardly worked at all. Maybe this would help.

I looked up, and could see nothing. No clouds, no robots. No nothing except the sky. But something was wrong. There was something out of place. It took me a few seconds to figure it out. The Sun

It wasn't there. It was always there, right above us, but it wasn't. It was still light, it was the same time of day but the Sun was gone. What's more, the robots still weren't here. I turned round to the flock, who were standing there, emotionless. Then everything went fuzzy, like television static, just for a split second, the whole world. The flock disappeared.

It happened again. Some kind of glitch. The River disappeared. In it's place, nothing. Just a gaping hole in the world. I stepped up to the edge and looked down. I couldn't see anything, it was Pitch black. Blacker than pitch black. It happened again, lasting longer. The mountains and the sky went. Nothing except the ground remained but even parts of that had gone. Again, and again, three times all in quick succession. Everything except me went. Just me alone in the dark. Then the dark went, replaced with the same static.

Then it disappeared, and I woke up. I sat bolt up, breathing hard. "Fang! Fang can you hear me!? Fang look at me!" I turned my head and saw Will. He looked crazed, his pupils were abnormally large, taking up most of his eyes. He was holding some wires and tubes, his hands were caked in what appeared to be blood. "Come on, Fang we're getting out of here." He said. He pulled me out of the chair I was in and stood me up.

"Fang are you OK?" I heard Max ask. I turned my head and saw her, she looked dizzy. I opened my mouth to say yes, but no sound came out. "Oh God, they had you in a simulation didn't you?" I nodded.

"What? What does that mean?" Will asked, sounding confused.

"Gazzy was in a simulation few years ago. For some reason when you come out of it, there are side effects. He lost his voice, was quite suggestible. The same thing must have happened to Fang!" She concluded.

"Well we'll just have to deal with that later, we're leaving, come on." Will said stubbornly

He headed to the door and I followed. I stepped through the shredded door after Will, and looked at it then at Will.

Max stepped through after me and said to me quietly "Will doesn't seem right. Something is wrong with him. You should be wary of him." I nodded curtly and jogged after Will. I wasn't entirely certain what was going on. Was this a new simulation? Or was it real? I was finding it hard to tell. Both Will and Max didn't seem right. She seemed delirious and distant, while he seemed angry and determined, more so than usual. He also seemed to know exactly what he was doing.

We caught up with him, and he kept jogging, not hesitating in which corridors or doors to go through. When we came to a junction I waited till he began to go in one direction and put my hand on his shoulder, stopping him. He looked at me, his eyes back to their normal hazel. I pointed in the other direction, moving my head down the corridor trying to tell him we should go that way, but he replied "No, we go this way." He said bluntly. I pointed down the corridor again.

"Why?" Max asked. "Why not that way?"

He sighed and replied "This isn't the first time I've gotten out OK? I know which way we're going, and we're going this way." With that he jogged off. I looked at Max and raised my eyebrow, before chasing after Will.

We had been following him for about 15 minutes now. He had slowed down and was coming up to another junction. He turned around to us and put his finger to his lips. He pushed his body up against the wall and poked his head around, instantly snapping his head back. He looked at us and mouthed the word, "Ari."

We stood still. Max shrugged her shoulders in a what-should-we-do-type-way. I looked at her and Will. If he really did know where he was going, he would be able to get her out, maybe even find the others. I pointed at Will and then Max, and along the corridor we came, and then arched round, mouthing to them to go back and find a way around, and get out.

Then I pointed at myself and at the corridor ahead where Ari was. Then I walked up to the junction and stepped out, and saw Ari standing with his back to me, chatting to a couple of Whitecoats, none of which had noticed me. I looked at Will and gestured for him to go.

"Fang what are you doing?!" Max uttered as quietly as possible.

"He's right." Will whispered to her. "I know my way out, I can lead you around, while he holds them off."

"No Will we can't ju-" Max began

But I shook my head violently. I pointed back down the corridor. She looked at me, and nodded reluctantly.

I waited till they were out of sight before I stamped my foot to get Ari's attention. He turned around, and looked at me, surprised.

"Now where'd you come from?" he laughed.

Angel POV

Gazzy had been unconscious for a long time. There was no way of telling time in here, but I think it had been about 5 hours. Maybe more. We were in a room almost identical to the one we had been in when we met Will. It was probably the same room, the layout was exactly the same, the smell was the same, and the cages were the same. Yep, I was pretty sure it was the same room.

I wasn't picking much up from Gazzy. Just the odd word or picture from him. He'd wake up soon, I was sure he would. "What are we going to do? I've got to think of something, I've got to be like Max." I heard Nudge say.

"It's OK, you'll figure something out. And if not, Max will come and get us." I told her confidently.

"Err, I didn't say anything." She said confused, from across the room.

"Oh, right. Sorry I must have overheard you." I said, embarrassed.

"Overheard? How can you overhear something that wasn't...? Oh! Right!" She realized.

"Yeah, sometimes I can't control it properly, and I just hear what people are thinking, without trying." I confessed.

"It's OK, I understand." She said sweetly. Suddenly I heard Gazzy stirring. My head shot round to him, and I saw him sitting up, rubbing his head.

He looked around at the cages. "Oh goddam it." He groaned. "Are you two OK?" he asked, acknowledging us.

"Yeah, we're both fine. You?" Nudge asked, concerned.

"I'll be fine, just a bump on the head." He mumbled. "So what have you two been doing all this time?" He asked.

"All this time?" I asked confused. "We only woke up about 6 or so hours ago." He frowned.

"What all this time, you were asleep?" I nodded slowly. "I suppose you should know."

"Know what?" Nudge asked.

"It's been about a month. You were asleep for around a month." He said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"A month!?" I gasped.

"How do you know that?" Nudge urged him.

"Me and Iggy got left behind. We tracked you down, and tried to break you guys out. I got caught apparently. Came at me from behind." He mused.

"Why did it take you a month to do all that?" I asked confused.

"Because we had to-" but Gazzy was cut off by a large bang at the door. We all looked at the door, silently. Another bang and another. I focused my mind, and could feel a presence outside the door. Someone, or something, was trying to get in.


	15. In A Month

Chapter 15 – In a Month

Gazzy POV

"So?" I said. "What do we do now?"

"Well lets size things up." Iggy replied. "We are in the middle of the desert mountain range and have little to none supplies, we have no money to get supplies and we don't know what happened to the flock or where they are."

"We don't know where they are going either. Or if they are even alive." I added, immediately regretting saying it.

"Yeah, that too." He sighed.

"I vote we find out where the flock are and where they are headed first." I said.

"Seconded." Iggy agreed. "So how do we go about that?" I didn't reply. That was where we had a problem. We had no real way of knowing. I looked around the cave, taking in our dismal situation. We had collected up anything that would have been useful. I had taken a look at some of the various parts of the robots that had been left behind to see if anything was recoverable, mainly for bomb making, but came up with nothing. But looking round again I thought of something.

"Iggy?" I pondered. "The one you crashed into when you were getting out? You don't suppose it's still down there do you?"

"I don't know, maybe, I flew into it quite hard." You didn't see it when we flew in?" he quizzed.

"You fancy a look?" I smiled.

"Well I'll tag along if you're going but I don't think I'd be that good with the whole looking part."

"Iggy, get over here!" I called to him. We had been looking through the bits and pieces of any robots that had fallen outside the cave, far down below at the foot of the cliff. It was mainly charred part that had been destroyed when I flew the grenades.

"Did you find it?" he asked, gliding over.

"Yeah, I think so." I replied, dusting the robot off. It was pretty much intact, a bit dented and scraped. "It looks pretty intact. You got your tools on you?"

"Never go anywhere without it." He said pulling it out of his backpack that had been left back in the cave. He pulled a screwdriver out of a small rolled up pack, and handed it to me.

"OK help me roll it over." I said. "OK, one, two, three, roll!" We heaved it onto its back, revealing it's crumpled, yet bulky wings. I grabbed the scraggly fur on it back and ripped it off with ease, revealing a shiny metal surface. I tried to pull off the wings, so they didn't get in the way; by they were too firmly in place. I would just have to work around them.

I saw a square groove, most likely a panel of some kind, and used the screwdriver to get underneath it and pry it open. Inside there was a jumble of wires, motherboards and other technology I wasn't familiar with. "OK Iggy, it's your time to shine."

"OK and you've connected the blue and green wire?" Iggy said, wiping sweat from his forehead.

"No..." I said slowly.

"What do you mean you haven't? Well what ones have you connected?" he said frantically.

"The red and the green one, like you told me!" I replied.

"I never said connect the red and the green, I said connect the red and the blue! Now connect the blue and the green wire before you blow something up!" he said getting frustrated.

"OK, OK, jeez!" I said quickly disconnecting them and connecting the blue and green. "What do I do about the red one; do I connect it to a different wire or what?"

"No, just leave the red wire, you don't do anything about the red wire, just don't touch the red wire!" he said angrily.

"OK! For Christ's sake, are we done yet?!" I shouted back.

"Yes we are." He replied calmly. "All you have to do is poke the end of the yellow wire into the hole in the side of the monitor and we should be all set." I did exactly as he instructed, not wanting to aggravate him again. As I did this I heard the whirr of the machinery inside it coming to life.

We had taken it apart almost completely, a process which had taken almost 2 hours. Then we had the even lengthier process of sorting through the pieces and putting them together. Using as few parts we could, we had formed a rudimentary television screen. We had used part of its memory and vision systems as well as many other parts from all other its body. Thanks god we both had a decent knowledge of mechanics.

"OK, connect the battery, and if everything has gone right, we should have an idea of where they are." Iggy said hopefully. I picked up the large metal cube, and pushed it into a slot in the back. The monitor faded into a jumble of pixels and red words. What we were seeing was what the robots could see. Well, what I could see, Iggy couldn't see it. "We're in dude!"

"Excellent!" he replied enthusiastically. "Anything like tracking or destination?"

"Err, give me a minute." I said, trying to work out how to open folders. I took longer than a minute, but eventually I found it. "Oh man" I moaned. "This is going to complicate things."

"What? What is it?" Iggy asked tensely.

"You're not going to believe this. They're in England." I moaned.

"New England? That's not too bad, a few days flight and-" but I cut Iggy off.

"No, not New England. England, UK, in Facility B, where Emily is. In Europe, Iggy!" I told him.

"Oh..." Iggy said. "Great."

Iggy POV

We were in the air, flying high to avoid detection. I knew we were above the clouds, as All of a sudden I had gotten very wet, and very cold. I had shouted at Gazzy for not letting me know. We had been flying for a couple of days. Stopping only when we had needed to. We knew we had to somehow get to Europe, but had no idea how. Gazzy had suggested flying there, flying via some islands as resting stops. But when we had landed to research it, we found that the gaps in between flying would have been too long, and there was the risk of us getting lost, or stranded in the middle of the ocean.

We had considered going by boat, but decided that would take too long. Gazzy had suggested flying north, and going through Alaska and Russia, but again, that would take too long. It left us with one real option. Plane.

Now as someone who had spent the 1st 10 year of their life locked up in a small enclosed dog cage, I, like the rest of the flock, had become extremely weary of small places with no way of getting out, especially when there was lots of strangers there too, any of whom could be an enemy. But what with the Erasers supposedly being all dead, and the new Robots, dubbed Flyboys by Gazzy, being pretty noticeably as large metal wolves with glowing red eyes. Well, noticeable to those who could see them.

Nevertheless, it was our only feasible option, so that was what we were going to do. We were flying east, towards Texas. I was hoping we were heading towards Dallas or Houston, where we would somehow smuggle ourselves onto a plane headed for England and find a way from there to break the flock out. No doubt they were there already, being subjected to all kinds of experiments. I struck that thought from my mind as soon as t got there.

"Iggy." I heard Gazzy say next to me. "We've hit the Sea. I think I can see Houston down the coast. It's getting dark soon I think. Maybe in an hour.

"Ok, we go into town, get some supplies, and then head for the airport. Which way?" I asked him.

"About 60 degrees on the left." He replied, and we both banked into the direction of Houston, Gazzy brushing his wing against mine so I didn't go in the wrong direction.

We entered the large doors of the airport. Gazzy told me it was called George Bush Intercontinental Airport. "They could have picked a better name." I said to him from the side of my mouth. We had stashed our packs in some bushes half a mile or so from the airport. We wouldn't be in here long. All we needed to do was find out what time, and which gate a plane would be leaving from to England. From there, we would fly to it, and find away into the cargo hold, and stow ourselves away. It was risky, but it was our only option.

I could hear so many things, talking, footsteps, Overhead announcements, the clicking of the departures boards, even planes taking off and landing. My head was pounding; I hadn't heard so many things at one time in my life. "You okay, dude?" Gazzy asked me on my left.

"Yeah, just a lot of noises. They're giving me a headache." I replied, rubbing my head.

"It's OK, I can see the departures board, we'll get out of here in a-" Gazzy broke off.

"What? What is it?" I asked confused.

"Ari." He said bluntly, and then pulled me away, through a crowd of people. We pushed our way through them, and then out some doors, and before I knew it, I felt wind against my face. We were outside.

"What the hell is he doing here?!" he moaned.

"I dunno, maybe his flight got delayed. There's no way for us to know. Did he see us?" I asked.

"No I don't think so. But I can't be sure." He mused.

"Well there isn't anyone chasing us so I would presume he didn't. Did you see the time and gate?" I pushed him.

"Err, yeah! Gate 23. It leaves at 11:15 PM." He remembered.

"Ace! That gives us a good 2 hours to get onto that plane. Shall we leave now, or wait an hour and see how close we can cut it?" I joked. I could practically hear Gazzy sneering.

"OK, where is the plane?" I asked Gazzy.

"About 40 degrees down, at 11 o'clock." He replied. We were hovering in the air, over the main terminal, so no-one would be able to easily see us.

"How long have we got?"

"About 45 minutes, I can still see the workers loading stuff underneath."

"OK, we go down, and wait till they aren't looking, then move in." With that we swooped down, my feathers brushing his, so I didn't get lost. We landed and hid behind what felt like suitcases. We waited about five minutes, Gazzy told me there was 3 guys, loading suitcases and luggage onto the plane, two on the ground, one in the plane. I could hear them chatting, throwing the luggage recklessly around. I heard something drop and smash, and one of them cursing. "The one in the pane, dropped something, he's getting out." Gazzy whispered. "Now's our chance, let's go. Stay behind me." I nodded to him, then we took off, and glided as quickly and quietly into the plane.

I had no idea if the workers had seen us, but it didn't sound like it. Once inside, I put my finger in Gazzy's belt, and let him lead the way to a quiet place in the plane. We had gone in about 25 feet, when he stopped abruptly. "We need to get out. Now, go back now." Gazzy said urgently.

But as he did, I heard one of the workers say "No, there's no time, we'll put the rest on the next flight. Close her up!" and then I heard the Cargo Door close.

"Well that's not an option, what's wrong?!" I said, worried.

"The Robots, the Flyboys." He whispered. "There are loads of them."

"What?!" I listened as intensely as I could, I could hear a low hum, all around me. Different to the noise they made in the cave. They hadn't attacked us yet either, plus the fact they were in the cargo bay of a plane led me to one conclusion. "They're on standby."

"What, how'd you come to that conclusion?" Gazzy asked.

"They aren't as loud as in the cave. They haven't attacked us; they must be being transported to England. No point leaving them online for the whole trip." I suggested. "Let's just go to the other end of the hold, there's nothing we can do now but wait it out."

Gazzy POV

It was a long flight. About 5 or 6 hours, made to seem 10 times longer with the flyboys at the other end of the cargo hold. I could see them, around 50 of them, on some kind of hangers or hooks, swaying with the movement of the plane, which was heightened down here, with no comfy chairs or anything to support us. It must be a lot worse for Iggy, with the loud rumble of the engines combined with the movement.

We landed about 10 minutes ago, and had come to a stop. We could hear the sound of the passengers leaving the plane above, and were waiting for the Cargo door to open so we could get out as quickly as possible. Iggy heard voices outside the door, and we waited by it ready to fly. Then we heard a familiar voice. "Open the door; I need to check they aren't damaged!" Ari ordered.

"Ok! Ok! Calm down! Just don't let my supervisor find out, I can get in a lot of trouble." A voice with a similar accent to Will's replied. The cargo door creaked open. We pushed ourselves back into the shadows as Ari walked in, his large bulky body blocking out a lot of the light which seeped in through the door. He looked around for the Flyboys, and saw them at the opposite end of the hold. He walked up to them and began to examine them, looking for any damage on them.

I tapped the back of Iggy's hand, to signal we should sneak out. He put his finger through my belt, and I started to creep towards the door, when Iggy tripped and knocked over some suitcases. Ari turned around and his eyes went wide, and stated to charge towards us. "Crap! Run!" I shouted to Iggy, who did so instantly, following my footsteps towards the door. We ran out, to see 3 stunned workers looking at us in awe. "Up and away!" I shouted and we both unfurled our wings and flew straight up, narrowly avoiding Ari lunging at us. We flew east, towards the rising sun.

I looked back down at Ari, but he didn't risk flying after us in public. Besides he wouldn't be able to catch us. He was too slow. "Right we need to find out where we need to go and-"

"DROP!" Iggy shouted cutting me off. I did instantly, knowing that when Iggy shouted that urgently it was important. A second after I stopped flapping my wings and dropped 25 feet a Jumbo Jet flew right over us the wind it generated almost blowing us to the ground below.

"JESUS CHRIST!" I shouted in surprise and shock.

"Gazzy! I'm the one who's supposed to be blind!" Iggy shouted at me once we had gotten back on track and out of the flight path. "How the hell did you not see a massive freaking plane coming right at us? We could've been killed!"

"Sorry! I wasn't expecting it!" I retorted. "Let's just find somewhere to hole up and figure out what to do next."

About 3 weeks had passed since we arrived in England. We found Facility B through the monitor, but it had taken some time to find it exactly, the map wasn't extremely accurate. We had landed at a place called Gatwick Airport, and had followed the Freeways to Birmingham. We had passed over London, and I was desperate to go and sight see, but Iggy put his foot down. He didn't want to get sidetracked. I conceded that he was right, but it didn't stop me grumbling about it.

Whilst trying to find the Facility, we had chatted about how Ari was there. We came to the conclusion that he was at the battle in the cave, and was travelling with the Flyboys back to England, possibly with the flock. That meant the flock were probably on the same flight as us. We would have been angry about it, but decided they probably weren't, and even if they were, it was too late to fret about it.

We had found an abandoned cottage, surrounded by steep sided hills. A good place hide, and easy to escape from. It was roughly 5 miles from the Facility, which we had scouted and found to be relatively unfortified. An 8 ft high electric fence running around its perimeter was all that kept it separated from the world. Well that would be hard to fly over... However there did seem to be regular guards, mostly humans, but every now and again, a flyboy.

It was situated on the edge of a hill, one of the highest for miles, and looked like it was build into the hill, with sections underneath it. It may be hard to break into, but not impossible.

Tonight is the night. We had scouted the area as thoroughly as we could placed supplies as various points in a 25 kilometre distance from the facility so we would be prepared if we were driven into different directions. We had gone into Birmingham, and "borrowed" some money from various passers by to get parts for bombs. It was fundamentally wrong but fundamentally essential, as Iggy had so delicately put it. However, we knew nothing of what we would do inside the Facility. Once we had gotten inside it would be guesswork.

"OK, it's dark enough now Iggy, shall we go?" I asked nervously.

"Yep. No time like the present." He said, picking up his pack which we had filled with as many bombs as we could.

We stepped out the door. It was a clear night; the stars were out in full force, even more visible than normal being out in the middle of the countryside. We took off and took a steady flight towards the Facility. However, once there, I was startled to see searchlights out, alarms flashing in the windows.

"Iggy, something is going on, there's some kind of commotion down there." I said.

"What do you mean? What's happening?" he asked, but as he said that, I saw a figure crash through one of the walls of the East Wing of the facility. The figure had fallen as they crashed through, but quickly got up and I saw them unfurl their large 14 foot wings. They ran forward 10 feet and take off, flying over the fence.

"Oh my god it's Will!" I breathed in awe, as he started to fly away, Flyboys seeping through the hole left in the wall, chasing after him. "WILL!" I shouted down to him. "UP HERE WILL!" I saw his head turn to look up at us, and he began to fly towards us with increased urgency, waving his arms at us. The Flyboys had heard us too, and were flying towards us. They had some kind of guns, and were firing up at us. As Will and the Flyboys got nearer I could see Wills face, ragged and tired, and the Flyboys, their red eyes glowing bright in the night. They continued firing, and I felt something hit my arm. I looked down, and saw a dart sticking out of it.

"Iggy get out of here now, I'm hit and I'm just gonna slow you down." I said to him urgently.

"But Gazzy-!" he began,

"IGGY GO!" I shouted, and he somehow managed to jump back whilst hovering in the air. He had tears in his pale eyes, and nodded sagely and flew off as fast as he could.

I looked down at will, still 100 ft down, and saw many darts sticking out of his back, his eyes drooping, his height dropping. My eyes started to droop too, and I began to fall, I could feel the dart taking effect. As I fell I saw Will being caught by the Flyboys, and being punched repeatedly till they knocked him out.

I felt one of the catch me, and my eyes began to close. I could make out the faint figure of Iggy in the sky, flying away. "Go." I breathed as I felt myself slipping away, until finally I fell unconscious.


	16. The Point of Viewing

Chapter 16: The Point of Viewing

Ari POV

"Is that them?" I asked the whitecoat quietly, after hearing something behind me. He nodded silently in response. "Don't look at them; keep your eyes on me. Pretend like we are having a normal conversation. Who is there and what are they doing?"

"It's the boy, Fang." The other whitecoat said. "He's signalling to someone round the corner."

"That'll be Max and Will." I told them both.

"It looks like he's telling them to find a way around." The first told me.

"Good." I smiled. "Exactly as we predicted he would do. Now we wait for him to get our attention." As I said that, I heard a bang behind me. I turned around, putting a surprised look on my face. "Now where'd you come from?" I asked. I couldn't help the smile which came to my face. He stood there, not saying anything, obviously stalling. "Oh what's the matter?" I asked him sarcastically. "Cat got your tongue?"

I closed my eyes, and began to morph. I could feel all the individual hairs, sprouting all over me, my mouth elongating into a wolfen snout, claws growing where my fingertips where. It hurt like hell, but I dulled the pain. I roared as the morph caused a combination of pain and ecstasy. I both hated and loved morphing; knowing how I was made this way, but knowing the power it gave me.

Once I had fully morphed I lunged at Fang, but he was too quick, and stepped out of the way casually, making me land on my face. Then he literally jumped on me as hard as he could, making my spine hurt like crazy. I threw myself up, making Fang fall back onto the floor. I shouted to the scientists, "Go! Alert the Director now!" They ran down the corridor, one of them stumbling on the way.

Before I knew it, Fang was pummelling me. Punching my gut, my head, kicking me in the chest, dislocating my shoulder, all in a matter of seconds. Then I turned the tables on him. I kicked him back against the wall, punched his face, and raked my claws across his stomach, only narrowly gutting him, but only scratching him. Then he pushed me back, and head butted me in the face, then hitting my temple. Perfect. I dropped. I pretended to be knocked unconscious, and slowed my breathing, lay slumped on the floor.

He stood over me for a few seconds, and then ran off, but not in the direction max and Will had gone. He was still trying to give them time to get out. Everything was going to plan.

Once he was out of earshot, I got up and walked down the corridor, and through a door. Inside were the 2 Scientists I was with earlier, sitting in front of a large selection of television monitors. I sat down in a chair between them and looked at the dozens of monitors. In one I could see a dark image of Angel, Gazzy and Nudge in their respective cages, chatting to each other, no doubt about some means of escape. In another I could see Max and Will, Will breaking through one of the outer walls like he had practised. In a small screen on the bottom I could make out the gravelly image of Iggy, hunched up asleep in the corner of the cottage. Most of the other images were just corridors or certain rooms being recorded, in order to cover all the variables.

Then I found the screen I was looking for. I could see Fang running down a corridor and out of the shot before he reappeared into another screen. I picked up a walkie sitting on top of the desk underneath the monitors and spoke into it. "He's wavering; get some men to funnel him to the cages. Make sure he knows where they are. Over." Almost as soon as I had said it, I saw on the monitor some of my men cut him off, forcing him down the corridor. I heard on the walkie a voice, and saw it speaking on the screen at the same time.

"Don't let him get to the cages! Cut him off! Don't let him get to his flock!" I grinned with satisfaction. It was all falling into place. I saw the look on Fangs face on the screen as he ran past a

camera. Although miniscule, I could tell he had registered the information. My men continued to lead him in the right direction, and before long, he stopped as he ran past the door. He read the words cages on the large metal door. He tried the handle, but found it locked. He started to throw himself against the door. I looked at the camera showing the cages. All 3 of them were staring at the door, anticipating a fight. Then Fang crashed through the door.

They all looked surprised, but glee filled their faces. He pulled the locks off the cages and they all embraced each other. Then they talked for a about a minute, well Fang couldn't but he tried his best, and then they ran out the room.

"Ari? Are you there?" I heard come from the walkie.

"Yes, Dad, what is it?" I asked Jeb, holding the walkie up to my mouth.

"We decided to have a small experiment; it should help speed things up." Jeb replied sinisterly. "Make sure you relay this to men."

Nudge POV

"Why did it take you a month to do all that?" Angel asked Gazzy.

"Because we had to-" he began to say before he was cut off by a large bang at the door. We all looked at the door, silently. Another bang and another. What was it? Whitecoat or Eraser? Friend or Foe?

Then the door burst open, and Fang stumbled in. My face light up. "Fang!" We screamed gleefully. He walked up to each of our cages, and ripped off the locks, not saying anything. All 3 of us rushed up to hug him. He smiled a rare smile and hugged us back.

We broke off and I asked Fang "Where is Max? How'd you break out? How are we going to break out? What are we..." but I broke off after seeing the look on Fangs face. He opened his mouth, and spoke, except no sound came out.

"Fang are you OK?" Gazzy asked him. He tried to answer, and then looked at Angel and he looked at her forcefully. She looked at him back frowning, and then looked surprised.

"Fang, what is going on?!" I said agitated.

But instead, it was Angel who replied. "He was in a simulation, like Gazzy was once. He says he has temporarily lost the use of his voice. He says Max and Will broke him out, but they ran across Ari. He fought and stalled him so Will could lead Max out. He just stumbled across us."

"Wow, OK, we'll deal with that later; we should just get out now." I said. Fang ran out the room, and we followed.

We ran down many corridors for a long time, meeting lots of Whitecoats on the way, but there was always another corridor to run down to escape, and none of them ever came close to catching us.

Eventually we found some signs indicating an exit and headed in its direction. As we pasted an adjoining corridor I glanced down it and stopped, seeing some Whitecoats. But they weren't heading towards us. They were escorting a small, scared looking little girl. My mouth gaped a little in surprise. "Fang!" I called ahead. I saw him stop and turn around. "It's Emily!" I shouted down to him, hardly believing it myself. He gave a look of surprise and then he hesitated before running up to me and looking down the corridor at the Whitecoats, who had noticed us, but seemed unsure of what to do.

Fang looked at me, and I looked at him forcefully. He nodded at then we both charged down the corridor, Angel and the Gasman behind us. We each tackled a whitecoat, knocking them out, and jumped up, and punched the other two, square in the jaw, the whole thing happening in quick succession and simple unison, like we had practised so many times. Gazzy and Angel hadn't even arrived before we were done with them. Emily looked extremely scared. She started crying.

"Hey, Emily it's OK." Angel said to her. "Do you remember me?" Emily nodded.

Fang gave me a look that said "We don't have time for this" and picked her up and indicated to us to follow. We were close to the exit now; I could see it, about 50ft away. I expected Whitecoats to come swarming at us like they always did. But this time, just for once, they didn't. None came out of all the doors, none blocked us off. We just, escaped.

We ran out the doors, and took off, into the wind and the rain, Fang still holding Emily, and just escaped. Just like that.

"Go north north-west! Me and Iggy found an abandoned cottage!" Gazzy shouted to us over the wind. "We can go there!"

Iggy POV

"Iggy get out of here now, I'm hit and I'm just gonna slow you down." Gazzy said to me hurriedly. He was hit? Hit with what? What the hell was going on?

"But Gazzy-!" I tried to say but he interrupted me.

"IGGY GO!" he shouted, taking me by surprise. I shouldn't leave him, he was my best friend, I'd be lost without him, but I knew he was right. Reluctantly I nodded and flew off as quickly as I could.

I felt terrible. I had left Gazzy behind. I thought about turning back, but Rule One was "Never Get Caught." We had broken that rule too many times already. I shouldn't break it again.

I flew back to where I knew the Cottage was. Unfortunately I had misjudged where the door was, and flew straight into it, headfirst. OW! I got up and kicked open the door in anger, and slammed it behind me. I walked over to the dilapidated sofa, but once again, I misjudged where it was and tripped over. I was pissed off now. I got up and picked up the sofa, trying to tip it over to vent my frustration.

However, I had forgotten how close it was to the wall, and it fell back on top of me. I screamed in anger. I pushed the sofa out of the way; everything was too much for me.

"It's not FAIR!" I screamed out, trying to find the rotting cupboard across the room. "Everyone knows what is happening except me! Everyone gets to see what is happening except me! It's! Not! Bloody! FAIR!" I shouted, finding the cupboard and tossing it over, tears streaming freely down my face.

How the hell am I going to survive on my own? What was I going to do? I now had no-one.

No Flock, No family, no friends. No home. No food. No anything. No something. No nothing.

And I had no working eyes

"What's the point in these things, if all they are good for is crying?!" I moaned, everything coming out finally. "What's the point in always running if we are always going to be caught?! What's the point in always trusting people, if they're always going to screw us over?"

I fell to my knees and felt something hard and heavy next to me. I picked it up and leant back getting ready to hurl it at where I _knew_ the window was, saying "What's the point of me, if I can't even...?" But instead I dropped it and slumped into the corner of the room, exhausted. "Oh, what's the point?" I sighed, curling up into a ball, feeling a cold draft coming into the cottage.

I must have fallen asleep, as I woke up to the sound of something outside. The wind was strong; it almost completely covered the sounds of the footsteps and whispers. But instead of getting up, ready for a fight, I just stayed in the corner. What was the point in fighting, if I couldn't see who it was? From what I could make out there were 4 or 5 of them. A small army for a weak opponent.

I heard the door creak open, and the wind blew in. I heard them come in, and then one of them spoke. "Iggy?"

I leapt up and ran across the room to hug Gazzy. "I was only gone one day dude." He laughed.

I moved back and said "Yeah well, it's hard for me to tell time sometimes you know..." I said, embarrassed. "Who else is here? I can't tell with the wind."

"Fang, Nudge, Angel and Emily." He replied. I smiled and hugged them all. Even Emily, I was glad she was still alive. I still felt responsible for losing her in the first place.

"And Max and Will?" I asked them.

They paused before Nudge sorrowfully replied "Fang held them off to let them escape. Before he found us. We don't know what happened to them."

"So," I began. "What do we do know?"


	17. Thoughts, Feelings & Emotions

Chapter 17 – Thoughts, Feelings & Emotions

Jeb POV

"Have you got the latest scans?" I asked Wilkinson.

"Yes sir, I've just received them. From what we can tell he isn't going to co-operate. As soon as he gets her back he's going to leave. He won't carry out the plan." I closed my eyes and sighed, trying to think of a solution for this. "Where does this leave us sir?"

"It leaves us in a very awkward position." I replied. "There is only one real solution to this then isn't there?"

"What's that sir?" he asked, frowning.

"Isn't that obvious? We can't let him have her yet, she must be sent with the others. It will put things in motion quicker, but I'm sure it will work."

"What if it doesn't work?" he persisted.

"It has to work." I said finally. "Hand me that Walkie." Wilkinson picked it up and handed it to me. I changed the frequency and spoke into it. "Ari? Are you there?"

"Yes, Dad, what is it?" he replied mockingly.

"We decided to have a small experiment; it should help speed things up." I replied. "Make sure you relay this to men. We aren't going to be able to keep the promise you made Will. He's not going to be able to have Emily back yet. It may compromise the plan if he does. I need you to send some men to collect her and make sure she is found by Fang and his group. Do you understand me?"

"I don't see how-" he began but I cut him off.

"Don't ask questions Ari, just do it, OK?" I shouted into the Walkie. There was a pause before he replied.

"Yes I understand. Are you going to tell him or shall I?"

"I'll do it. I want to see how Max is doing anyway." With that I turned off the walkie and turned to Wilkinson, who quickly turned himself away, to disguise the fact he had been listening in.

"Inform the director of the change in plans." I turned around and headed towards the Southern Exit, where I knew I'd find him.

I was waiting in front of the doors which led to the outside, the doors that Will and Max think will give them their freedom. Not yet though. I had ordered all personnel to stay clear of this wing until they had left. I was wondering what they both were going to say when they saw me here, alone. Then they came, out through a door, about 50 yards down the corridor. They stopped in their tracks when they saw me. Max looked at me with the hatred and disappointment she gave me every time I saw her. Will's expression hadn't change. Just the same determination he'd had in his eyes since I saw him earlier.

"Max, go back. I'll handle this." He said to her, not taking his eyes off me. She looked at him, with a concerned yet confused expression.

"Will, lets just find another way around."

"Just go! I'll catch up." He shouted at her. Max looked furious, she was never happy to take orders from someone else, but she reluctantly ran down the corridor and out of sight.

"So Will, hello again." I smiled.

"Yeah, we should really stop meeting like this." He replied mockingly, raising an eyebrow. "Let's just cut to the chase this time shall we? Where is she?"

"Ah, now, you see, there's been a change in plan. We can't let you have Emily back yet. We don't think you'll uphold your half of the deal if you get her back first. So until you've set the wheels in motion, you won't see her just yet."

Will gave a small chuckle. "Why doesn't that surprise me? What other big reveal are you going to throw at me? The rest of the flock are dead? You're an alien? You're actually a good guy? Stop me when I'm getting warm!" Will looked at me savagely. "You know I could hurt you? I could tear you apart."

"But that wouldn't get you Emily now would it Will?" I replied.

"No. But it would make me feel a whole lot better." He said bluntly. "I still don't have any idea how I'm going to do it."

"Surely someone so fuelled by emotion as you could figure it out Will? What's the one thing that we could do to you that would tear your world apart at the seams, the one thing that would destroy you?" I pressed.

Will's face went dark. "I don't even want to think about something like that." He said gauntly.

"Well, with any luck, you won't have to imagine it pretty soon. You've seen how we use your emotions and feelings against you, how we've channelled your drive to get Emily back, and manipulated it to our needs." I persisted. "Use their emotions and feelings towards you to you're advantage, manipulate them, push them against each other, and I guarantee you, you'll be back home within a week."

"Why are you telling me all this now?" Will frowned. "You were Mr. Mystery earlier."

"Like I said Will, the plan has changed." With that I turned to leave.

"Wait! What about Emily? When will I see her, where is she?"

"She's with Fang and the others. If things go as planned, you'll see them in a few days." I said to him. "Now go. I'm sure Max is waiting." Without another word, he left after Max. "Oh and Will!" I shouted after him, smiling. "If you ever need to contact me, just call!"

Max POV

I waited for what felt like ages. The effects of the drugs were beginning to wear off. My hearing was beginning to improve and I could hear the faint, muffled words of Jeb and Will, but I could only make some of it out properly. Something about emotions and feelings, the usual Jeb crap. He was no doubt trying to convince Will to stay for some warped reason.

The talking stopped and I heard Will running towards me before I saw him. When he caught up to me he said forcefully "Come on, we'll find another way out." Before taking my hand and dragging me along with him at a slow jog. "Look in all the rooms for a window to the outside. We'll just have to get out the old fashioned way."

"What do you mean?" I frowned.

Will looked at me and grinned. "You'll see."

Eventually we came across a small bathroom, with a tiny window in the corner leading to the outside world.

"Will, I know I'm slim, but there's no way I'm gonna fit through that." I joked.

"Well, I'll just have to make a bit of a bigger hole aren't I?" he replied. "Have you heard of the X-Men?"

"Yeah, Gazzy used to joke we could form a super group like them, turn the school into a school like theirs, and find other like us, the whole shebang. Why?" I mused.

"There was one, the Juggernaut he was called. He could run through walls." Will smiled, taking a few steps back.

"You don't seriously expect me to believe you're going to-" I began, before Will started sprinting towards the wall head first. "Will, STOP!" I screamed. Then I had to duck as brick, mortar and tiles flew all around as Will crashed through the wall.

Before the dust settled, I felt Wills hand picking me up and dragging me out of the dust filled room through the gaping hole in the wall, out into the fresh air. Behind us I heard the distinct sound of a ceiling caving in. Before I could look Will, pushed me forward and we started running. He opened his wings out and shouted "Time to fly Max!"

I woke up slowly and groggily. I looked out of the mouth of the cave. It was day, but dark clouds loomed overhead and it was drizzling. Will was sitting in the mouth looking out over the valley and the forest below. His back was to me and either hadn't noticed me, or chose not to acknowledge me yet.

I sat down beside him, and looked at his face. It was dirty, his jaw was stern, his hair had grown long and matted, and his eyes were bloodshot. "Will, when was the last time you slept?" I asked.

"Can't remember." He mumbled. "Few days, maybe a week."

"You look wiped. Get some sleep, I'll keep watch." I offered.

Will gave a small chuckle. "I'm not keeping watch, I'm just... thinking."

"About what?"

"Everything." He sighed. "Emily, Erasers, the Flock, My Parents, Home. You." When Will said 'My Parents' a pang of guilt went through me. I still hadn't told him they were dead. I had to. I had been waiting for the right moment, but there would never be a right moment to tell someone their parents were gone.

I had to do it. He should know. I should tell him. Do it. Now Max. Do it! Tell him! NOW!

"Erm, Will..." I said looking up at him. But before I could continue Will took grasp of my hand, leaned towards me, and kissed me.

But before I even had time to register the feeling of his lips on mine, he pulled back, letting go of my hand and looked at his lap. It all happened so quickly. Did it happen? Was I still asleep and this was just a dream?

"Sorry. I shouldn't have done that." Will said quietly. "It's just... There so much happening, so many thoughts and feelings. I'm just really con-"

"You're parents are dead Will." I confessed. Will looked up at me, a look of confusion, horror and sadness all over his face. Tears began to fill my eyes. "When we went back for Emily, on the computer, Nudge and I pulled up some files. When looking at Emily's, to see where she was, under Parents it said deceased. We looked at yours too. It said deceased too."

"I was going to tell you, but then the voice came back. Then we had the fight and got captured. I was going to tell you, Will, I should have told you. But..."

Will stood up, and looked down on me. I was crying now. Wills eyes had tears in them. He looked out of the cave, his hands trembling.

"I'm so sorry Will." I cried. He carried on looking out at the landscape. A lone tear splashed down from his face, onto the hard rock next to me. "Will, please, say something! Anything." but he spread out his golden wings and jumped out the cave, over the ledge and swooped away out of sight.

I just sat there crying. I couldn't bring myself to get up or move or do anything except cry. Later that day, I could hear screams of anguish and mourning, carried towards the cave in the wind, from far away.

Angel POV

"So," Iggy asked. "What do we do know?"

Fang looked at me. "We need to rest up. Take some down-time. Then we need to look for Max."

"Fang says we need to rest up here for a bit. Then we need to look for Max. _And_ Will." I added, looking at Fang as forcefully as I could.

"But what if their hurt? Shouldn't' we look for them now? What if they need our help?" Nudge quizzed Fang. I looked at Fang. He raised his eyebrow and told me "They'll be fine now that Will's gone all superman." I didn't understand what he meant by that.

"Fang says they'll be fine for now." I told her.

"Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm knackered." Gazzy piped in. "I'm gonna get some rest." Fang nodded in agreement, to show he thought we all should.

"I got 1st Watch. You guys have had a busier day than me." Iggy said.

"I dunno dude, from the looks of this place, you done some major redecorating since yesterday." Gazzy chuckled, looking at the overturned cabinet and sofa. Iggy didn't say anything.

We stacked our fists together, I urged Emily to do so too, and I felt the others drift off to sleep.

Hours later, I was on a short watch to give the others a break. I was eavesdropping in on Gazzy's dreams. He always had the best. Fanatical stories of superheroes, and explosions, and saving the world. At one point he was flying through the sky, chasing a super villain, the next jumping from an explosion. Suddenly it shifted. This seemed more real than the others, more detail.

He was in a Helicopter. The Pilot shouting "Mayday mayday!" over and over. He was holding some sort of metal ball, with lights flashing on them. The lights were going out. There were Erasers around him, jumping out. He wanted to jump, but couldn't. He was caught on something.

Will appeared at the window. He was shouting something. Gazzy replied but I couldn't understand. The lights were almost completely out. Gazzy looked up at Will, who was inside now. Trying to free Gazzy. Gazzy told him to leave. There was only seconds left. Will did so.

Gazzy closed his eyes and thought of the flock.

Then the dream changed again, back to The Super Gasman. I came out of his head, and thought about what I just saw. I thought I could hear something. Screaming, and crying. It seemed to be coming from all around. It sounded familiar. I went over to Iggy and tapped the back of his hand to wake him.

"What is it?" he asked, alert.

"Can you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

_**No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! It's not true! **_"That!" I exclaimed. "Someone shouting and crying."

"Can't hear anything 'cept the birds." He replied. "You're probably day dreaming. Get some rest, I'll take over."

"I guess." I mumbled. It couldn't hear it now. It had gone as quickly as it came. I was trying to figure out who it was while I lay down my head on the cold floorboards. As I was drifting off into my own dreams I realized who it was and whispered "Will."


	18. A Change in Plan

Chapter 18: A Change in Plan

Max POV

Ok, seriously, what had I done to deserve this?

A load of screwed up scientists, decide to slap wings on my back, throw me with a load more like me, let us live it large in a cage for a few years. Then years later, after multiple escapes and recaptures, chuck a couple more of winged kids into the mix, practically let us escape twice, and then I have to tell the new guy, who might maybe like me, and I might maybe, kind of like him, that his parents were dead.

I mean, come on! Give me a break!

It's not like I couldn't have told him. They were his parents. He had a right to know! Ok I could have picked a better moment, I'll admit that much, but if I kept putting them off, I probably never would have been able to tell him.

I still couldn't believe he'd kissed me, even if it was just for a few moments. I didn't realise he might like me. I had tried not to let on I maybe liked him. I knew at some point, he'd probably leave, and go back to his family, so I didn't see the point in doing something about a silly little crush. I guess he thought the same thing. So what had changed?

_**Everything has changed Max. **_

"Please say that's not what I think it was." I groaned.

_**Everything changed when you told him his parents were dead. **_The voice said, appearing in my head again, for the first time in what felt like years.

"Wait, weren't you the one who wanted me to tell him in the first place? I mean make up your mind!" I said sarcastically.

_**When you told him his parents were dead, he rethought his whole agenda.**_

"How do you know that? What agenda?"

_**You'll find out eventually. But right now, you need to help Will. He's in a bad place at the moment. Comfort him, be there for him. Stop trying to be a leader and start being a friend, and more, Max. Just give a little love, and you'll get a little love of your own. Don't hurt him any more than he already is.**_

Wow, Ok. That's a lot to take in. 'Give a little love'? 'A friend and more'? What's that supposed to mean?

_**You know what. **_The voice seemed to chuckle. _**Heads up Max.**_

Almost instinctively, I looked up and out to the mouth of the cave, and saw Will landing in the cave. He didn't look at me, only at the ground. He walked towards me, but not to me, stopping a few meters away.

"I forgive you." He said bluntly. His voice sounded raw and dry. "And I'm sorry I kissed you. It won't happen again." Ouch. Ok you want me to give a little love, voice? Well, try this on for size.

"Maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing if it did happen again." I smiled hopefully at him. He looked up at me. His eyes were so bloodshot, they were practically red and dried tears streaked his cheeks.

"I know where the others are. I saw them while I was gone." He sighed.

"Why didn't you go already, bring them to me." I frowned.

"I didn't think Fang would be too pleased to see me without you." He said solemnly. "I'm going to go and get clean. I'll take you to them afterwards." With that he turned and started towards the mouth of the cave.

"Will..." I called after him. He stopped, and cocked his head slightly back. "You didn't mean what you said did you?"

"Didn't mean what?"

"That you forgive me." I said quietly.

He turned completely and looked me straight in the eyes. "I don't know if I can ever fully forgive you." He stared at me for a few seconds, then turned, and took off without another word.

Fang POV

"Fang?"

"What is it Nudge?" I sighed, knowing what she was going to ask.

"I'm hungry, can we get some food or something soon, because it's been over a day since we've had a decent meal, and I was thinking we could go into the nearest town and, you know, borrow some food, and chow down or something?"

My belly had been rumbling for a while now, but I, unlike Nudge, could ignore it. We were flying around the country, looking out for Max and Will, hoping we would spot them, or they would spot us. Iggy had taken the kids to scout another area.

"We have food at the cottage, we should head back anyway." I said decisively. My voice had returned to me fully earlier in the day.

"Yeah, but that's not a proper meal, I want like a massive meal." She moaned. I looked over to her, and raised an eyebrow. She sighed. "I'm sorry Fang."

"Come on." I smirked, swooping around and headed for a town I could see in the distance.

* * *

Iggy and the kids were already back by the time we arrived.

"They were getting tired and restless. Gazzy and Angel kept getting distracted, and I was tired from carrying Emily. Besides, what were the chances of seeing them?" Iggy explained.

"Fair enough." I conceded.

"To be honest, I don't think Iggy ever stood a chance of seeing them." Nudge joked. We all laughed, and I pulled out the food me and Nudge had gotten in the city.

"So you didn't find them then?" Gazzy asked me whilst shovelling 2 burgers down his throat.

"Obviously not." I dead-panned. "Do you like the food?"

"Obviously!" he exclaimed, stuffing a handful of chips into his mouth.

"Fang?" Angel asked, with her mouth full. "What are we going to do if we don't find them?"

"Don't worry, we'll find them." I replied confidently. I hoped she wasn't reading my mind, as I hadn't a clue on what to do if we didn't find Max.

Suddenly, Angel focused, and seemed to stare at the ceiling. Then she smiled and said "Or they'll find us." before getting up and running toward and out the door, smiling. We all looked at each other and grinned.

"Come on Emily." Nudge said picking up Emily. "Will's back." Emily smiled, and ran after Iggy, Gazzy and Angel. It was the first time I'd seen her smile since we got here. Nudge ran after too. I got up and walked towards the door in time catch a glimpse of Max being bundled under a pile of winged children.

Will landed behind her and ran over to Emily, and picked her up and hugged her tightly, tears glistening in his eyes. He looked up at me, and nodded curtly. I greeted him by nodding back, and walked over to Max, who had pulled herself out of the pile and greeted me with a hug. I stood there, and received the hug.

"Would it kill you to ever return a hug Fang?" Max whispered in my ear.

"Yes."

"It's good to see you too." She said, looking at me.

We all went inside, everyone crowding round Max and Will. They were all asking lots of questions, and they seemed happy to answer most of them. Will kept looking around the room frowning. He hadn't let go of Emily since he first hugged her. I was about to ask him why he was frowning, when he looked up in the corner of the room.

He got up and placed Emily, who had fallen asleep in his arms, down on the sofa. He walked up to the corner of the room, and stood on a cabinet so he could reach the ceiling. He closed his eyes, and for a few seconds we just stared at him, wondering what he was doing. Then he suddenly punched through the wall.

He pulled out his hand, and in it he was grasping a small camera.

"How did you know that was there?" I asked confused.

"Stumbled in on a surveillance room, in one of my escapes. Recognised the room." He replied.

"You mean you didn't scope the place out before you came here?" Max rounded on Gazzy and Iggy.

"How were we supposed to know the Whitecoats had an abandoned little country getaway?!" Iggy hit back.

"Yeah! We were busy trying to break you out!" Gazzy chimed in.

"This is going to get us nowhere guys." I said peacefully.

"You're right." Max replied. "But we can't stay here if they have us under surveillance. We're leaving. Now."

Nudge POV

"I hate this city!"

"I think it's safe to say we all do Nudge." Max sighed wearily as we pushed through the crowds of people. It must have been a weekend, during peak rush hour, as practically every single person in the city seemed to be shopping.

"Over there!" Gazzy exclaimed, pointing to a closed shop, with a large doorway. We all moved in and took shelter from the hordes of shoppers passing along the street.

"Yeah, but I actually _hate_ it. It's all grey and dirty; the people are rude and have funny accents. It's horrible." I moaned. "And I'm hungry. Can we get some food soon Max?"

Max sighed. "We don't have any money Nudge."

"Well couldn't we maybe borrow some?" I queried.

"You mean steal?" Fang said.

"Where are we anyway?" Angel asked, looking around.

"This'll probably be Birmingham." I told him. "It said do on that computer back at the school. You know when we went back for Emily and found out about Will's-"

"Nudge! Shut up!" Max shouted glancing at Will. "Um, Will, aren't you from around here? Do you know where we could get food?"

"No, I lived near Brighton. I've never been here." He said bluntly.

"Oh well, I'm sure we can figure something out." Max said, looking at Angel.

* * *

"RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN!" Max shouted, as we pushed past the passers by. I turned my head. Those two police officers were not far behind.

"Err, a little help!" Iggy called, as he was headed for a lamppost. I grabbed his hand, and pulled him out of the way, weaving us through the crowd. Will had gotten to the front of us, and was barging through the shoppers like a bulldozer, creating a path for us to follow. By the time the police got far, the crowd had milled back in, making it harder for them to chase us.

We wound our way down the streets, to the edge of the city centre. We ducked in down an alley way, and Fang poked his head round the corner. "We lost them."

"Well that was fun." Gazzy panted sarcastically, leaning against a dumpster. "We should do that again real soon..."

"I'm sorry." Angel said quietly.

"It's not your fault those cops saw the guy behind the counter just giving us food sweetie." Max said comfortingly. "If anything it's mine for telling you guys to leg it when hey stopped us."

"Shame we had to drop the food..." Iggy sighed. I realised I was still holding his hand, and quickly pulled it away. "Oh and thanks for helping me out back there Nudge."

"No problem Ig." I smiled at him.

"What now then M-" Iggy began before Will cut him off.

"Someone's coming!" he hissed.

"The cops?" Fang asked.

"No. It's a man in a suit and trainers with a Gameboy and a pen." Will answered, bemused. I looked down the alley and saw him. He was wearing a brown pinstripe suit with a black tie, and a pair off all-star trainers. And like Will said, he seemed to be holding a Classic Gameboy, and some sort of glowing pen.

"What do we do?" I asked Max.

"Just try to act casual. If were lucky, he's some homeless dude, who'll just carry on." She said thought fully. We turned our backs to him, and tried to look like we were in a conversation. I could hear his footsteps getting closer, and the strange beeping from his Gameboy.

He was close now, very close. If he wasn't careful, he was going to walk straight int-

"Watch where you're going!" Fang snapped as the man walked straight into him.

"Oh, sorry," The man said in a Manchurian accent, looking up at us, his game continuing to beep strangely. "Must watch where I'm going ... all over the place today me."


	19. Revelations

_**Authors note: **This chapter fetures a crossover between my story and a story of a friend of mine, Rob Griffin, entiled "The Mercury Room Chronicles", a series of stories featuring a character named "The Dr."_ _That charatcer is essentialy a spoof of Dr. Who._ _If you would like to see his point of view, then go here - /doc/3548349/The-Mercury-Room-Chronicles-Nemesis-Chapter-13 and if you like what u see, pehaps read the whole series :P - board./viewtopic.php?id32761&p1 _

_Anyway, enjoy the chapter, they just seem to be getting longer and longer now!_

Chapter 19: Revelations

Angel POV

"Watch where you're going!" Fang snapped as The Man walked straight into him.

"Oh, sorry," The Man said, looking up from his game. "Must watch where I'm going ... all over the place today me." We all slowly edged towards the wall, tensing our bodies ready for a fight if needed.

"… Yeah," The Man said happily. "Forwards, backwards, side to side … diagonal even. Y'know it's absolutely _amazing_ that I'm getting anything done when I'm in this kind of state." Max stepped forward, tapping my hand as she brushed pass, giving me the signal to "probe" him.

"What do you want?" she said, sizing him up. I closed my eyes and pushed my mind towards his. I could feel the flock, the people passing by in the street around the corner, but where he was, there was nothing.

"Oh, what do any of us really want?" He pondered, rubbing his chin. He put his pen-thing in his pocket, and then looked down at his game as it started beeping again. It was strange. I could feel his body there, but it was like it was empty. Nothing in it at all. He was blocking me.

I didn't know how that was possible but he was, there was a force pushing back from him. I searched for an opening, a chink in his armour, and found nothing, not even the smallest hole. I opened my eyes, and saw him looking at me, frowning and biting his lip, his game beeping louder and more rapidly than before.

I didn't like this man. He wasn't a man. He was something else. Something a lot more powerful than any human could be. I took a step back, behind the rest of flock, scared.

"Dear Lord." The Man muttered, looking down at his game, which almost defiantly wasn't a game, and back up at me, and then back to his ... thing, and at me again. He knew that I tried to read his mind.

He took a deep breath, and smiled at us again, pocketing his "game."

"That's _four_ impossible things I've done before breakfast today …" He beamed. "Two more and I can round it all off with breakfast at Milliways … the Restaurant at the end of the Universe ... Awww, god bless old Douglas …" I had no idea what he was talking about. I just stared at him, wide eyed.

"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?" He continued hopefully. "Not fans? Pity … Oh well, each to his own I suppose" I was seriously freaked out now. Not only was this Man extremely powerful, and dangerous, but he seemed to be mentally insane as well. I knew from experience that when you added those things up, it never turned out well.

"I'm _The Dr._ by the way, if it makes any difference." He smiled.

We all tensed again when he said that. "A Doctor?" Fang repeated, clenching his fists. "What do you want?"

"From you?" The Dr. retorted, raising his eyebrows. "Absolutely nothing ... I'm just waiting for..." He trailed off, waiting for something.

"DR.!" A hairy man spluttered, running to a halt beside the Dr., followed by 3 teenage boys, about Will's age, maybe a bit older. The hairy man looked like some sort of cross between a Hippy and a Gypsy. Behind them, a Rooster waddled along, and stood beside them, looking around inquiringly.

"I'm just waiting for this lot," the Dr. thumbed at the newcomers. "Bunch of absolute slow-coaches the lot of them." He said, turning to greet them.

"Dr.! ... Did you ... find ...?" The Hippy-Gypsy panted, leaning on the dumpster.

"No ... nothing," he replied plainly, putting his hands in his pockets. "The trail's gone cold … We'll have to look somewhere else," he turned around and looked at us again.

"Pleased to meet you anyway …?" he asked holding out his hand to Max, who he could obviously tell was our leader.

"Max," she replied perplexed, shaking his hand. "Dr. ...?" she queried.

"Yep, that's me!" he smiled broadly. "Take care Max." He let go of her hand, and sped off down the alley, followed by his companions, who wearily jogged after him.

We all stood there, in stunned silence.

"Well that was... interesting."Gazzy said slowly.

"Why does nothing in my life surprise me anymore?" Iggy pondered

"We should go." I said to Max, holding her hand, scared.

"Yeah, we should, at least away from that nut." She agreed, looking at Fang who nodded. "Come on; let's get up on the roofs. At least there we shouldn't run into any strange men who run around with teenage boys, a smelly Hippy and a Chicken."

"Hopefully, at least." Nudge added.

Nudge POV

"Hey, Will?" Max whispered to Will, leaning down to waking him up. His eyes snapped open, and his grip around Emily, who was huddled up to him asleep, tightened. He had slept a bit away from the group. "Me, Fang and Iggy are going to head into town to get some chow. Are you okay keeping an eye on everyone for us? We won't be long."

"Yeah, that's fine." He replied drowsily, relaxing. Will sat up and asked Max something in a hushed voice.

"Bring us back something good will ya, Fang? I'm starving." Gazzy said.

"Sure thing buddy." He said ruffling The Gasman's hair as he walked past.

"You want anything in particular Nudge?" Iggy asked me.

"Ooh! Keep a nose out for some Apple Pie!" I beamed. "I haven't had Apple Pie in aaaaaages."

"Sure thing." Iggy smiled. "Angel?"

"No thanks, I'm not fussed." She said quietly, leaning against a tree. We were in a field, on the edge of the city. We decided the city was too dirty and smelly to sleep in. So we trekked to the country, not being able to fly, in case someone saw us.

Max got up and she, Fang and Iggy set off. It was about a 45 minute walk into town. They would be gone for about 2 hours in all. We watched as they jumped over the fence and towards the town and out of sight.

"So," Gazzy began. "Who do you think he was? Insane hobo or a G.P. gone off the rails?"

"Or an Alien." I added. "Angel said he wasn't human. Didn't you Angel?" Angel nodded slowly. "Then again, we're not technically human are we, but we're not aliens. Ooh! Maybe he's a runaway from The School, like us!"

"Hmmm, I hadn't thought of that." The Gasman pondered. "What do you think Will?"

Will had gotten up, and joined us, Emily sleeping still in his lap. "I'm not sure. What I want to know is why he was travelling with a Chicken." He smiled.

"Actually, I think it was a Rooster." I said.

"Is there a difference?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well a Chicken is female and lays eggs. A Rooster crows when the sun comes up and is male." I explained.

"Meh, Tom-ay-to, Tom-ah-to." He yawned.

"You're really not a morning person are you Will?" I giggled.

He looked at me tiredly and said, "Ya think?" We all laughed after that, and settled back.

* * *

Max, Fang and Iggy had been gone for about an hour now. Emily had woken up, and her, Angel, and Gazzy were playing Hide and Seek around the field. I was watching them, laughing as 

Angel cheated and found Gazzy using her mind. I turned around and saw Will, leaning against a tree, deep in thought. I got up and walked over to him, and sat down opposite him.

"You okay Will?" I asked quietly. He came out of his thoughts and looked at me.

"Yeah I'm fine." He said, smiling at me.

"Do you wanna talk about them?" I asked. Will frowned. "You know, about your parents?"

Will's frown dropped. "Oh, no, I wasn't thinking about them."

"Oh, okay. What were you thinking about?" I pressed.

"I was just thinking about that Dr. guy," He sighed. "I've heard that name before is all."

"Really? Where'd you hear it?" I asked eagerly.

Will looked taken aback, and sat up straight. "Oh, I don't really remember. Must have heard it in passing or something."

"Well we could have Angel find out. She could look inside your mind and find out where you know him from." I said quickly. "Angel! Come over hear!"

"Really, Nudge, it's okay, it's not that big of a deal." He said as Angel ran over.

"Angel," I began as Angel came over. "Will thinks he's heard of The Dr. before, but can't remember where. Could you take a look for us?"

"Sure!" she said happily, and closed her eyes and relaxing.

"No, really! Angel don't, please! It's not worth thinking about! Angel, its okay!" he said loudly and urgently now, almost shouting. Angel began frowning. She must have found what she was looking for and was reading it. "Angel! Please! No!" Will shouted.

"What's going on?" Gazzy asked, as he trotted over, Emily behind him.

"Angels trying to find the Dr. in Wills mind. He's heard of him before." I explained. I looked at Angel, who was frowning very seriously now, her jaw clenched, almost looking angry. "Angel, are you alright?"

"Angel! Stop! Please, no! Angel! No! No-no-no-NO-**NO**-_**NO**_! **ANGE**-" Will cut off as Angel opened her eyes and stumbled back.

She looked at Will, terrified. "Angel, what is it?" I asked urgently, looking from her to Will.

"Angel?" Will said, stepping slowly towards her. "Angel please, you have to listen to me."

"Get back!" she screamed at him frantically. "Stay away!"

"No please, Angel, let me explain, I was never going to do it!" Will pleaded.

"What it is Angel!?" I asked looking her square in the eyes.

"It's Will." She said, tears in her eyes. "He's bad. He's working with Jeb."

I looked at Will, and then back to Angel, horrified. "Angel, please! You don't understand!" Will cried.

I looked back to Will, then at Gazzy, whose mouth was agape, anger in his eyes, then at Angel, who said finally, "Will's a traitor."

Will POV

"Are you ready?" The whitecoat asked. His name badge said he was Dr. E. Wilkinson. I didn't look at his face. I couldn't bear to, knowing what I was going to have to do.

"Yes." I said quietly.

"Okay then." He said, taking a deep breath. "Three, two, one. Action!" I screamed out load, banged my fist against the wall, making as much noise as I could. The whitecoat rand through the large swinging doors ahead of me, as an alarm went off overhead.

"Jeb! We need help!" I heard him shout inside the room, cueing me. "He's got ou-" I threw the whitecoat behind me through the doors, with as much force as I could.

"Wait here!" I heard Jeb say to Max. What else did he expect her to do?

Jeb walked through the doors and greeted me with a smile. "Hello Will." I stared at him, hatred in my eyes. "A good performance so far. Let's hope you can stay in character."

"It's not a character. I'm hoping that I'm actually going to be able to hurt a few of you." I said hatefully.

"Well it looked like you genuinely knocked out Wilkinson if that makes you feel any better?" he asked sweetly.

"Tonnes." I stared at him, as he looked around, making sure the Erasers and Whitecoats were getting in place, that the blood spatter looked real. "How do I know you'll giver her to me?" I asked as a blonde Whitecoat came over and applied fake blood to my hands, and flicked it across my t-shirt. "How do I know that once I've done this for you, that you'll just capture us again, and throw us back in The School?"

"Ah, that old chestnut. The truth is Will, you don't. You're just going to have to trust me." He chuckled. "Besides, that particular scenario isn't possible anymore."

"What do you mean by that?" I quizzed.

"Well, I suppose there is no harm in telling you. The school's gone Will." He said bluntly.

"What do you mean gone? It was destroyed? The Government shut it down?" I asked, confused.

"No, it's just… gone. We lost communications with it a few weeks ago, sent some people over to check it out and it was just… gone. Nothing but a great big hole in the ground and a few bits and bobs left in its place." He said.

"How's that even possible? Who could have done that?" I asked genuinely.

"Well the perpetrator was kind enough to leave us with CCTV footage of parts of it." He said darkly. "A man who called himself, The Dr., managed to infiltrate the facility, and destroy it from the inside." There was a sharp pain in my hand suddenly.

"Ow! Watch it!" I shouted at him.

"Sorry mate," he replied cheerfully, winking at me. "Must watch what I'm doing. All over the place today me." I looked at his name badge instinctively. Dr. V. Dio-Lawt. I was going to remember the name of every person who worked here, and as soon as all this was over, expose them.

"As for how he managed to remove it from the face of the earth? Well, we're still trying to work that out. Rumor has it he's here in this facility too. So as soon as you have gone, we're moving on to somewhere else." He stamped his foot on the floor as hard as he could, so max, thought the scuffle was continuing.

"How am I going to do it?" I asked exacerbated. "How am I going to split the flock up?"

"I'm afraid you're going to have to figure that out for yourself. As soon as it's done though, we'll know. We'll deactivate the tracer we've placed in you, and you can carry on with your life, whatever way you want. We won't interfere. In the meantime, just have a think about how you're going to do it."

"What about Angel? Won't she be able to read my mind, and find out about the whole thing?"

"Well, you'll just have to think about something other than this won't you." He said evilly.

"What could I possibly think about other than this?" I asked tiredly.

"I'm sure something will come up." He smiled. The Whitecoats and Erasers, were all in place now, anyone unnecessary had left. "Time for me to go Will. Good luck. I'm sure I'll see you soon." He walked off down the corridor, making sure not to step in any blood.

I was alone in the hallway now, expect for all the "dead" Whitecoats around me.

"Right Will, this is it." I said to myself. "You can do it. Do it for Emily. Do it and get home, do it and end the nightmare. You can do it. Just focus Will. Focus. Okay. This is it…" I stood in front of the doors, concentrating, urging the power forwards, ready to burst through them.

"I'm sorry." I said quietly and I walked through the large swinging doors. I looked around the room, the power surging. The power. The anger. There were lots of metal beds, a strong smell of antiseptic. On a bed on the left lay a bemused looking Max. "Will?" she slurred. "Where's Jeb? How'd you get here?"


	20. Have I Got News For You

Chapter 20: Have I Got News For You

Max POV

"Look let's talk about this on the way into town", I said quietly "We don't want to talk about something like this in front of the others, let alone in front of Will." Fang and Iggy nodded, and we set about waking up Angel, Gazzy and Nudge.

"Nudge, sweetie, rise and shine!" I whispered in her ear. She didn't stir, and just stayed curled up in a ball. "Oi! Nudge, wake up!" I said, giving her push onto her back. Her eyes snapped open and she murmured incoherently.

"Uuuuh, what time is it?" she moaned.

"Morning time," I smiled. "You need to wake up, me Fang and Iggy are heading into town. We didn't want you waking up not knowing where we were." She took a moment to register the information.

"Okay, cool." She said, sitting up, wiping her eyes. I looked over at Iggy, who was jokingly kicking The Gasman awake, accidently forcing some gas out of his belly, and Fang, who was rousing Angel. I guess I would be waking up Will then.

I walked over to him. He was sleeping a bit away from the rest of us, as he had been since we got out. I leaned down over him and said in a hushed voice "Hey, Will?" He opened his eyes, and tightened his hold around Emily, who was sleeping in his arms. "Me, Fang and Iggy are going to head into town to get some chow. Are you okay keeping an eye on everyone for us? We won't be long."

"Yeah, that's fine." He replied sleepily. He sat up, careful not to disturb Emily. I was about to go back to the flock when he spoke. "Um, Max, can I ask you something too?"

"Fire away." I smiled at him. He didn't return the smile.

"Um, I've been doing some thinking." I instinctively sat down when he said this, sensing my legs would get tired in this crouched position. "I, err, I want to go home. I need to know, for sure, whether my parents are... gone."

I nodded in agreement and said, "Do you want us to come with you?"

"Yeah, if you want to. But what I wanted to know is, erm, if they are actually... dead," he said, struggling to admit his fears. It was the first time I had heard him say it. "If they are dead, can I, err, Emily and I, can we stay with you? You and the Flock?"

"Won't you want to live with your relatives? An aunt or uncle or grandparents?" I frowned.

Will shook his head. "I don't have any. My parents were only children. My grandparents died when I was young. I haven't got anywhere else to go."

"Me and the flock, we're going to have to discuss it, but I think you should think about all of your options okay? Don't give up hope just yet."

Will nodded to show he understood, and I got up and headed off after Iggy and Fang.

* * *

"So, are we okay to talk about it now?" Iggy asked, as we were walking past the shops of the town centre.

"We've been okay to talk about it for the last hour Iggy." I sighed.

"Well then why weren't we?" he exclaimed.

I merely shrugged and made the "I dunno" sound.

"It's because there nothing to talk about." Fang said bluntly. "Will's going to go home, and we can carry on with our lives, and we'll all be happy. End of." He had such a way with words.

"No Fang that's not 'End of', are we gonna fly with him home, or just let him be on his way, agree to meet up later maybe? He told me he has no other family to go to, what happens if his parents _are_ gone?" I argued. "He asked me earlier, if once he'd gone home, and found out for certain, if he could come back with us. I don't see a good reason why we shouldn't let him."

"What about when we were escaping?" Fang asked

"What do you mean?" I asked back. "And which escape?"

"The second one. Where you said he was acting strange. How _did_ he know exactly where he was going hmm?" he retorted.

"He said he'd broken out before." I retorted.

"He did." Iggy chipped in. "Gazzy and I saw him. Well, Gazzy saw him at least. I was present at the time."

"You see Fang? We have no reason to doubt him." I told him. "Besides, we kept from him that his parents were dead. We owe him."

"Err, no." Fang said. "_You_ kept from him that his parents were dead. _You_ owe him. We didn't know anything about that. You, Nudge and Angel managed to keep that happy little fact to yourselves dintcha?"

I stared at him, hurt. "Why are you being like this?"

"Being like what?" he asked frowning.

"Being an asshole!" I shouted, causing some pedestrians to give me dirty looks.

"Actually seeing as we're in England, I think the word is arsehole." Iggy pointed out. I ignored him, and the passers by.

"What have you got against Will? You've been rude and nasty whenever he comes up. He's done nothing to you!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, nothing that I know of...yet." he added.

I sighed and decided to just end this. "Yeah, well either way, ultimately it's my choice."

"How'd you figure that?" Iggy asked.

"Well, seeing as I'm the leader of the flock, I make the final decision. " I said, smirking at Fang, who looked at me silently.

"And that would be...?" Iggy queried.

I looked Fang dead in the eye, trying to look as angry with him as I could. He raised his eyebrows and shook his head, mouthing the word "Don't".

"He can st-"

_**Max! Help! We ne...ray us! Will is...Come back quick! **_Angel voice filtered into my head, cutting me off midsentence.

Angel? Angel, are you there? What's wrong? I didn't get anything back.

"Max?" Fang asked, frowning. "Is something wrong?"

"Something's happened back at the field. We need to go back now." I said urgently. "Up and Away."

"What?! Here, out in the open?" Iggy gasped. "In front of all these people?"

"Yep, now." I said, unfurling my wings, causing the people in the street to step back. I jumped in the air and began flapping. Looking down I saw Fang look around wide eyed, frantically at the people, who had stopped and were staring. He tapped Iggy's hand and jumped up, after me.

The people below were in awe, some had started applauding, presumably thinking it was some kind of magic trick or stunt. One screamed melodramatically whilst others had grabbed their camera phones and started taking pictures. Great, just what I needed. No doubt this would be all over the news tomorrow.

"You better start talking Max!" Fang said angrily, flying beside me. "This had better be _really_ fucking important!"

Fang POV

We landed in the field five minutes after taking off, too find Will holding his head in his hands, slumped with his back to a tree, Emily sitting quietly by his side. Angel, Nudge and Gazzy ran over to us as we landed, tears streaking down Angels cheeks.

"Report!" Max shouted urgently. "What happened, what's the matter?"

"It's Will!" Angel sobbed into her arms. "He's bad. He wants to hurt us."

Max looked up at me, astonishment in her eyes. I looked over at Will. He hadn't moved.

"What do you mean he wants to hurt us? Did he hurt any of you?" I asked Nudge and Gazzy. They shook their heads.

"He's going to!" Angel cried. "He wants to split up the flock!"

"What do you mean?" Iggy asked confused. "Why would he do that? He said he wants to stay with us!"

"He made a deal with Jeb! He gets set free, if he can split us up." Angel said quietly. That was all I needed. I started striding over to Will.

"Fang, wait!" Max called, but I ignored her and carried on towards Will. He looked up, and scrambled up quickly when he saw me coming, his back to the tree still.

"Fang, please you don't understand!" he said hurriedly. "If you just let me-" but I was upon him, and grabbed his throat and held him up, choking him. Emily began screaming, and hitting my legs. "Fang... wait..." he choked.

"Who do you think you are?" I hissed in his face. "You come into our flock, we take you in, we trust you, help you get your sister back, and this is how you repay us?"

"Fang, stop it..." He wheezed. "If you don't... I can't... control it sometimes...I don't want... to hurt... any of you..." My hands were getting colder. The same feeling I had back in the fight in the cave. I looked in his eyes, seeing his pupils begin to widen, a red tinge come into his eyes. I'd seen that before, when he had hit Ari. Before I had time to let go of him myself, Max was beside me and hit my hand away.

"Fang, stop it!" she shouted at me. "You have to let him explain before you try and kill him!"

"What's there to explain?!" I shouted back. "Angel said he was going to hurt us, and split up the flock! You heard her yourself. If Angel knows its true, it must be!"

Max ignored me, and asked Angel, "Can you tell us exactly what happened Angel?"

Angel nodded, her crying having subsided. "We were playing hide and seek, and then Nudge asked me to help Will where he knew The Dr. from. I read his mind, but he tried to stop me. He knows him from when Jeb was talking to him about their plan. They were gonna split us up, and then Will could go back to his old life."

"Will." Max said calmly, before any of us could speak. "Is this true?"

He hesitated before saying "Well, it's complicated. It was-"

"Will! Is this true?!" Max shouted at him, looking at him sadly.

"Well, yes, it is, but you d-"

"You see! He admits it!" I exclaimed. "This is exactly what I said was going to happen Max."

"OKAY!" Will screamed at me. "I was going to do it! And I felt terrible for even considering it! But it was the only way at the time I could get Emily back, _and _get us out of the Facility. The whole escape was staged, and planned. But only because I agreed to go through with it. Without me, we all would still be there! But once we escaped, and Max told me about my parents, that they were dead, that I had nothing left, everything changed. I don't want to hurt any of you! I couldn't go through with it. I couldn't..."

Will paused, tears trickling down his face. "I couldn't do it, because I needed you. Because if I did it, I wouldn't have _anything_ left at all."

"But you were still going to do it?" Iggy asked quietly. "You _were _going to try to split up the flock?"

"Yes." He said bluntly.

"Then there's no way we can trust you." Iggy said. Will looked around at the others, hoping one of them would say something to defend him, but no-one said anything. Nudge and Gazzy just looked at him, hurt, avoiding looking him in the eyes, Angel looked down, and Max stared right into his eyes, showing him just how much he betrayed us.

"Gazzy, if it was Angel who was taken, and you were in my place," Will said to him, "Could you honestly say you wouldn't have done the same thing?"

The Gasman thought for a second, and then went to reply, but Max spoke first.

"Don't put Gazzy, in that kind of position! He's not in your shoes; he shouldn't even have to think about that!" she said sternly.

"You need to go now Will. Go home, wherever that is now. Go home, and don't come back." I told him. He looked at me, and then at the flock again, before hanging his head. He picked up Emily, who had stood by his side quietly this whole time, and began to walk away. He had to brush past me, and as he did, I stopped him and whispered in his ear, "If I ever see you again... I _will_ kill you."

He nodded softly, and walked out into the field quietly, grabbing his and Emily's packs as he walked, our gaze following him the whole way. He spread open his wings, and looked back at us for the last time. "I... I'm sorry. I never..." he broke off and sighed. He looked up at the sky, and took off, flying out towards the town centre, and away from our lives for good.

Will POV

It was the day after I had left the flock. Emily and I had slept in a wood on the other side of the city that night. Well, Emily did. I didn't sleep at all. I felt terrible, but I was also annoyed with them. I had just tried to do what was necessary to get my sister back. I was sure they would have done the same thing in my shoes.

Once Emily had woken up, we ventured into town. I prayed to myself that they had moved on, in case I ran into them. I had a small amount of change in my rucksack. Enough for a sandwich and drink each from a bakery at least.

As I was leaving, I saw a discarded newspaper on a table in the bakery. The headline read: NEW SIGHTINGS EMERGE ON EMILYS 3RD BIRTHDAY. Beneath it was a picture of me and Emily, taken about a year ago. I stared at it for a moment, before grabbing it, and walking out the bakers with Emily.

I found a small park a few minutes away, and sat down on a bench, and handed Emily her food and quickly began reading the newspaper. It turned out our disappearance had turned into a massive nationwide search. The article spoke about the brutal kidnapping from our home 9 months ago, which quickly became national news. There were numerous false sightings reported all around Europe and America, until 3 months ago, when CCTV footage in a small town in California, USA showed images of a teenager my appearance, with a group of 6 other children.

The name of the town was the same as the one near where we camped after first escaping from the school. After that there were no developments until 2 days ago, when people in a Fast food restaurant in Birmingham reported a group of children fleeing from police, two of which matched our appearance. Grainy CCTV pictures of the restaurant were pictured next to the article. Although blurry, I could easily tell it was Me, Emily and the flock.

The article went on to say that the Parents of Will and Emily had issued a statement, saying these reports gave them fresh hope, on a day that would otherwise have been a sorrowful one. They urged anyone who had any information to contact the police.

I looked at the article in awe, rereading one line. "The Parents of Will and Emily had issued a statement". The Parents. They were alive.

I quickly put the newspaper in my pack, and said to Emily "Come on, we've got to go."

She nodded, and having eaten her food, took my hand. I began to walk to town with her.

"Where are we going now Will?" she asked sweetly.

"We're going into town. I'm going to try to find the police station." I replied.

"Oh." She said confused. "Are we not going to see Tick soon?"

"Who?" I asked, still walking

"Tick! From that place with all the doctors." She said innocently.

"Do you mean Max?" I asked confused. Because we're not going to see her for a –"

"No not Max!" she cut me off. "Tick! And Syke, and Alex, and Charlotte! From the house." I stopped and looked down at her, frowning. "I liked Tick. You liked her too. Until she, erm..." she stopped, trying to think of the word, and brushed her hand across her forehead.

"Until she headed...?" I guessed. She shook her head and wiped her hand across her forehead again. I shrugged. She then brushed her hand across her bottom. "Wiped? Until she wiped me?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed. I looked at her bewildered.

"Okay... No we aren't going to see _them_. We're going to the police station, and then we are going home, Okay?"

"Home? Back with Mummy and Daddy?" she asked happily.

"Yes," I said smiling at her. "Back home with Mum and Dad." I continued to walk back to town, holding Emily's hand, when I remembered something. I stopped again, and knelt down to Emily, and kissed her forehead, making her scowl, and said softly "Happy Birthday Emily."

* * *

After asking for directions from a pedestrian, I found the police station. I walked through the doors, Emily's hand firmly grasped to mine. On the wall to the left there was a large notice board. On it I saw missing children posters for me and Emily. I wandered how long it would take for someone to recognise us if we hung out next to it for a bit.

Instead I walked up to the receptionist, who smiled at us kindly through the glass. "Hello there. May I help you?" I instantly tried to think of a way to say this, my mind running over filing a missing persons report or asking if she recognised us.

"Hi, err, yeah you can." I laughed. "My name is William Hayes. This is my sister, Emily Hayes." She looked at me, and then to Emily, frowning. Then she glanced over at the notice board, realisation coming to her face. "I _think_ you might be looking for us."


	21. London's Calling

Chapter 21: London's Calling

Gazzy POV

We headed off the evening after Will left. None of us really wanted to stay, and Max said it was too close to the Facility. We went into the city first, too pick up supplies. We had decided we were going to do a tour of England. We all agreed we needed a break.

In town we picked up a sightseeing map from a tourist office. Angel instantly declared she wished to see the Angel of the North first, and from then on, we would head down the country, ultimately ending up at the White Cliffs of Dover, where we would fly over to Europe.

In town, Max picked up a news paper, with the image of what looked like 3 large birds flying in the sky, with the Headline reading: FLYING KIDS SPOTTED OVER BIRMINGHAM

"Uh oh." She said quietly to Fang, showing him the image.

"Well, we knew this was going to happen. I suppose we can take solace in the fact that it _was _important enough in the end." He replied. We all stayed silent after that, wallowing in the awkwardness.

* * *

Later that night, we had landed in the middle of nowhere, half way to Newcastle, in the countryside. We had considered flying through the night, Iggy saying we were more likely to be spotted in the daylight, and we didn't want to raise our profile anymore, but Max said no, saying no one would notice if we flew high enough. Besides we were all quite tired.

I couldn't help thinking about what Will had said to me. That if I was in his shoes, and if it were Angel, would I have done the same. At first I was going to reply to him, no, as I knew that Max and the flock would all try, that last time she was taken, we had all gotten her back. Now though, I wasn't sure.

If I was in his shoes, I wouldn't have had any experience of a situation like that. I would have just wanted to get home to my parents, my sister with me. To do that, I would do whatever was necessary. He told us he had been kept in isolation for a whole month, learning how to use his ability, and I would think he would have been thinking about nothing other than getting home.

While I was thinking about this, Fang came over and sat down next to me.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah I'm fine." I replied flatly.

"Everyone I've asked that to today has just said 'I'm fine.'" He smirked. "Come on man, talk to me."

I hesitated for a moment, before I found my mouth moving without thinking. "It's just about what Will said to me. About if I was him, and it was Angel. And I keep thinking that I would have done what he was done. He doesn't know how to react to a situation like that. He hasn't had to deal with anything like that before. He did what anyone who had been put in that situation would have done." I pondered. "But none of that matters anyway. Even if everyone agrees that, he still betrayed us. He should have told us, and we could have figured out a way to get her back together."

"Wow. You have been thinking about it haven't you?" Fang replied jokingly.

"Yeah, I have." I chuckled. Fang gave me a quick smile back. It was the first time in over a year I had seen him smile properly.

"Come on, you should get some sleep. It's been a long day." He said, patting my back warmly.

"Yeah I really should." I yawned. Fang got up, and went and sat next to Max, as I lay down my head on the grass, and surprisingly, drifted off to sleep almost straight away.

Iggy POV

We had been travelling around England for little over a month now, seeing the sights. Now I know what you're thinking. How much sightseeing (emphasis on the words sight, and seeing there) can a 15 year old blind guy actually do? Well, not much, but it was nice to have a break, and to be out.

That's another thing, turns out; unbeknownst to us, 4 of us had had birthdays without even realising it. So now Max, Fang and I were 15, and The Gasman turned 9. We figured out it was about a week till Angel turned 7 as well.

Now, we had been all over England. Turns out, the place is tiny! Like, really miniscule. In the time it takes to get from one side of USA to the other, we could fly from the top to bottom of England about 8 times. So we had to pace ourselves, and spend a few days here, and a few days there. We had been to Stone Henge, Manchester, Land's End, The Angel of the North, The Fens, Hadrian's Wall, among others. And we had saved the best till last.

We were in London.

"So, where do you guys wanna visit first?" Max asked us, on our first day. "We got Tower Bridge, Madam Tussauds, St. Pauls Cathedral, Tate Britain, Tate Modern, The Tower of London, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, London Zoo, The London Aquarium, The London Eye... Wow there's _loads_ to do in London!"

"We could do two things a day. Make a week out of it." I suggested.

"That sounds cool." Nudge commented.

"What's the London Eye?" Gazzy frowned. "Is it actually a really big eye?"

"No, it's kind of a really, really big Ferris Wheel, that takes an hour to go around. You can see for miles from the top of it. Look, you can see the top from here." Fang explained.

"Whoa! That's humongous! But couldn't we see most of London anyway, by just flying over it?" he pondered.

"Not without being seen we couldn't." Max said.

"Can we go to there first then? See what it's like to be that high without flying?" Nudge piped in.

"And can we go to that aquarium too?" Angel asked.

"So long as you don't get any of the fishes to start a revolt, that's fine too?" Max laughed.

"Well, their right next to each other, so that works well." Fang said. He had been put in charge of the map. If we got lost, it would be his fault.

"Okay, we'll do The London Eye first, then The Aquarium. That okay with everyone?"

Max asked.

We all agreed and then headed of towards the "really, really big Ferris Wheel". I had a feeling I might get bored, pretty quickly.

* * *

Two hours later, we ran aboard our "pod" as the attendant had called, having to run as the wheel never stopped spinning. We had to share our pod with about 15 other tourists, but we had expected it.

"You know, I don't feel claustrophobic at all." Max said to us about 15 minutes in. "Being in this small space for an hour would usually send me freaking out, but, it's so open, and bright. I don't feel enclosed at all."

"How far can you guys see?" I asked them.

"Oh about 10, 15 miles, easy. It's a really clear day." Gazzy replied.

"Hey, excuse me; can you take our picture for us?" I heard Nudge ask someone.

"Of course." An unfamiliar voice replied.

"Come on Iggy, get up, group photo." Nudge said, pulling me up from the bench.

"Okay." I sighed. "Which way am I looking?"

"Straight ahead." She replied, lining me up.

"No bunny ears!" Max snapped and I heard Gazzy scowling next to me.

"Okay, you guy's ready?" the stranger asked. "3, 2, 1! Cheese!"

_"Cheese!" _We all said with varying degrees of enthusiasm. I heard the click of Nudge's camera.

"Thanks' a lot!" Nudge said, going over to the person to get her camera back.

I was sat back down on the bench, listening to the younger ones "Oooohing" and "Ahhhhing" at the view, intensely bored. Max sat down next to me.

"You alright Ig?" she asked me kindly. "You look bored."

"Three guesses why." I smirked.

"Well, the kids are enjoying it. At least when we're in the aquarium, you can put your hands in the water and feel the fishes and stuff." Max said, trying to cheer me up. "I know these last few weeks have been pretty lame for you. Sightseeing probably isn't high on a blind persons to do list, but you have to admit, we needed this. We needed time to just chill out, take it easy, and explore a bit."

"Yeah, I suppose." I mumbled.

"Hey, don't worry Iggy." Max said comfortingly, putting her arm round me. "Things'll get more exciting soon."

"You've got that right." A voice behind me said, milliseconds before something large and hard connected very fast with the back of my head. I fell off the bench, and landed in a heap on the floor, the back of my head instantly throbbing.

"WHAT THE...? OW! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" I shouted angrily, getting up. I felt two taps on the back of my hand, and moved towards the sound of the flocks breathing.

I heard growling, and groaning on the other side of the pod, a few people screaming too.

"Oh great, this is just what we need." I heard Max sigh to my right.

"What, What is it?!" I shouted agitated.

"Erasers." Fang said calmly to my left.

"_A_ _lot_ of Erasers." I heard Gazzy gulp behind me.

"Brilliant." I sighed.

Max POV

"WHAT THE...?" Iggy shouted incredulously. "OW! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" he stood up and I tapped the back of his hand twice, and moved towards us, slotting in between me and Fang, on my left.

I was watching the man though. I hadn't gotten a good look at his face before, he started to morph. People on the other side of our pod began morphing too, about 10 out of the 15 of them.

"Oh great," I sighed. "This is just what we need."

"What? What is it?" Iggy asked frantically.

"Erasers." Fang answered calmly. As he said that, maybe 10 or 15 more winged Erasers came from nowhere, outside the pod, hovering outside the windows, circling us.

"_A lot _of Erasers." Gazzy said behind us.

The few people left in the cabin, who hadn't morphed were screaming or shouting for help. One merely stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds before suddenly shouting "WEREWOLVES!!" and then tried to hide underneath the bench in the centre.

"How are there Erasers?" Iggy asked. "Max said they had all been exterminated."

"Yeah well I was apparently wrong." I snapped. That had to be one of the few times in my life I had admitted to being wrong.

The Erasers had fully morphed now, and they were tensing their bodies, and baring their teeth, snarling at us.

This was where our Fight or Flight instinct kicked in. Literally.

"Guys? U and A?" I said to the flock, keeping my eyes on the Erasers, who were slowly creeping towards us.

"Yep. Fang replied. "I don't fancy our chances all too much."

"Yeah. U and A." Nudge replied.

"Okay then. On three." I said calmly, glancing up at the thickness of the glass.

"One!" I shouted, and we all unfurled our wings, jumped and pushed ourselves up. The whole glass in the pod shattered, and the wind caught us, almost sending us crashing into the next pod along, which was full of tourists staring at us and taking pictures.

"GO GO GO!" I shouted, as the flying Erasers quickly converged on us. We all quickly headed east, as we agreed to do if we were being chased. Going 80mph, high above the city, we quickly lost the Erasers, who couldn't go nearly as fast.

We landed on a small island, in the estuary of the River Thames, and checked ourselves out. We had some cuts and scrapes from the glass, but we could have come out a lot worse if we had fought.

"Aw man, I wish we had some more bombs, we could have just blown them all to hell." Gazzy moaned.

"I think bombing a major London landmark is the point in which it just becomes terrorism Gazzy." I replied jokingly. "And besides, I told you! No more bombs! Angel, did you get anything from them?"

"Yeah, it was strange. They weren't sent by the Whitecoats. They found us on their own." She said.

They were sent by themselves? So what they had gone renegade?

_**That's exactly right Max.**_ Oh hey voice, nice of you to join the party. You mid shedding some light on this, you told me they were all dead.

_**They were supposed to be all dead Max. These ones have slipped the net. They deserted when they found out they were due for extermination. They are hoping that if they can capture you and the flock, and hand you over to the Whitecoats, then they'll be allowed to live.**_

"Max? You okay?" Fang asked me, looking at me strangely. "You went off into your own little world there for a moment."

"The voice popped in for a visit is all." I told him. "It said that those Erasers ran away when they found out they were going to be killed off. They want to capture us, and hand us in, in exchange for our lives."

"So now, we don't just have The School, Ari and their Whitecoats and Flyboys chasing us, but we got a rag tag team of Erasers past their sell by date?" Iggy said sarcastically. "Sweet."

"I take it we aren't going to be able to go back to London then?" Nudge said sadly.

"Sorry guys. But all those people taking pictures, our faces are bound to be over tommorows newspapers." I explained. "We should leave England altogether to be honest."

"Well only real place to go is France. Then from there?" Fang said thoughtfully.

"We'll figure that out later. Now we should just go." I said finally. And with that, we took off, heading down along the coast towards The English Channel.


	22. Life As We Knew It

**Author's Note: WARNING. The ending to this, in my eyes at least, is pretty brutal. Sorry if it spoils it, but be prepared.**

Chapter 22: Life As We Knew It

Will POV

I was staring out of the window of the car, watching the buildings go by. I had a giant grin on my face. I remembered every house, noticing the changes to the shops, a new set of playground equipment put in the park. I was so happy. The happiest I had been in months, maybe my whole life. Happy that my nightmare was over, happy that everything was okay, happy to finally be coming home.

"Will?" My father asked me from the driver's seat. "You alright back there?"

"Yeah, I'm good." I said, still smiling.

"Sorry your mother's not here too. She had to stay at the house and look after Emily. They're both really looking forward to seeing you again."

"I know. It's okay, I'm just happy to be home." I replied.

"I'm happy your home too." He said sincerely, smiling at me through the rear view mirror.

We turned left, and we were here, back at my house, back home. I could see it across the road. It was there. Exactly as I remembered it. Except for the dozen or so news reporters situated outside it.

I stepped out of the car and was quickly bombarded with questions and having microphones pushed into my face. "How does it feel to be home?" "What is your relationship with the flying children?" "Is it true you have wings too?" were just some of the questions I was able to decipher, before my father pushed his way in front of me.

"Okay, okay! PLEASE!" he shouted, holding his hands up, trying to get their attention. "My son has been through a terrible ordeal, and will not be answering any of your questions, and neither will I. Now if you will please, my son would like to go home, and have some privacy for now. Will may at some point in the future, reveal the details of what has happened, but that will be entirely up to him, when or if that will happen. Thank you!"

We pushed out way through the reporters, camera's flashing all around us as we did, before we made it to the front door, and entered.

"Wow, Dad, that was good." I commented on his speech.

"Yeah, well, I've had a bout a years worth of practice." He said. "Come on. Let's go see your Mum."

* * *

Three weeks later, and my life was slowly returning to normal. The reporters had backed off after I had an interview with a national newspaper, in which I told them I didn't remember much of anything about my kidnapping until about a week before I turned myself in, stating I had amnesia at the time, and couldn't remember I had been kidnapped. I said, I had never been to USA to my knowledge except for a holiday when I was 4, and the kids I was seen with in Birmingham, were a group of homeless children I had attached myself to after finding waking up with Emily, alone in the city. I said that they did look like the kids who had been spotted with wings, but I knew nothing of it.

When asked if I had wings I said "No, I don't have wings. That'd be ridiculous."

"Would you show me your back, to prove it?" he asked in reply.

"You want me to take off my shirt? What are you, some kind of sicko?" I told him. He dropped it after that, and suffice to say, that part didn't appear in the article.

I did tell my parents the true details of what happened, and at first they were sceptical, when I showed them my wings, they had to believe me. We decided it best to leave it be, and to not seek out a Doctor to remove them. When I was older, I felt the need; I would reveal I had wings to the world. For now, I just wanted to be normal.

On the subject of my parents, the reason my mother wasn't there to pick me up, was as she was 4 months pregnant! I was thrilled when they told me, and they told me they were going to move home, as there were too many bad memories here. I quickly agreed.

I was sitting on the computer in the study, surfing the net, and listening to music. It felt so good to do something normal like this. Although I was happy, I felt like I had a hole in me. I still felt terrible for betraying the flock, and although I had been extremely busy getting my life back in order, they were never far from my thoughts.

I scrolled through the music list, looking for something to cheer me up, when at the bottom of the playlist, I saw a song I didn't recognise. It didn't have a band or album name, and was simply titled "Click me." Curious, I played it, and was treated to silence. I tried to skip ahead to later on in the song, but my mouse wouldn't move. The whole screen had frozen, except for the music counter at the top, slowly ticking away. It said the song lasted for 7 minutes.

I was worried it was a virus, so I tried Control Alt Delete, but it did nothing. I tried turning off the computer, and even pulled the socket out of the wall. And yet it did nothing. I was about to head down the stairs and ask my father to see if he could figure it out, when I heard a voice.

_**Will?**_

I expected to see my father standing in the doorframe, but there was no-one there. I looked around the room, but I was alone.

_**Will, can you hear me?**_

I realised I still had my headphones in, and looked at the screen.

_**Hello? Will, say something, I know your there. Oh come on you run down, good for nothing... **_ it said, followed by some loud banging noises, and static.

"Hello?" I said hesitantly.

_**Ah! Excellent, it's worked. Hello Will. How are you?**_

I looked at the screen, the counter ticking away, showing 1 minute and 3 seconds now. "Who is this?" I asked, confused.

_**Oh I'm fine thanks, yourself? **_It answered mockingly. _**Jeez, people in your time, they just have no manners do they?**_ _**... Anyway, surely you recognise my voice?**_

I pulled the headphones out of my ears, and looked at them, hearing the voice from them saying faintly, _**Will come on, put those back in and talk to me.**_

I put the headphones back in, and said "Sorry, I don't recognise your voice. Should I?

_**Well, last time you met me, it was rather fleeting. And I didn't really say much to you in particular. I'll just re-introduce my self then I suppose... It's me! The Dr.!**_

"Wait, that weird hobo from Birmingham?" I asked ludicrously.

_**That's me! Funnily enough, that's not the first time someone's described me in that way.**_

"How on earth did you get on my iTunes?!"

_**Not on earth actually I'm on the planet of Kalgoorlie. Well the space station orbiting Kalgoorlie, but it's all just referred to as Kalgoorlie anyway...**_

"Wait, Kalgoorlie is in Australia. I saw it on Lost, on TV." I replied

_**Well yes of course I know that! It's in Australia, but it's can be a planet too...**_

"Wait this is mental. I'm talking to a bloody song that claims to come from space. How do you know what I'm saying?" I asked frustrated.

_**Well I can hear you. Don't try and make me explain how, it's far too complicated for you to understand. Besides, you gave me a run down of what you were going to say when you told me about this. **_

"Wait, when _I_ gave you a run down? What are you talking about?" I said exacerbated. The song still had 2 and a half minutes to go. Oh god.

_**Ah, yes, you said you'd say that. I meet you in the future and now I'm transmitting this into the past. Oh, you said I'd say that too! I'm getting good at this.**_

"What?!"

_**Oh yes that too! This is where you say "What do you want?" by the way. You'd better say it. If you don't you might just destroy life as we know it. Or knew it. I'm not sure what it would be if you're in the past.**_

"What do you want!?" I shouted, getting extremely annoyed with his ranting.

_**Good boy! I am supposed to warn you that... Ooh now, I've got to get this word for word. I have to warn you, that they still expect you to finish the mission. If you don't soon, they will kill them for real this time. Yep, that's defiantly right. Of course, I know you're not going to, or I wouldn't be talking to you now, but apparently I've already done it, so I have to do it to you now. It's all pretty much a big bubble of confusion that's set to pop.**_

"Wait, they want to still do the mission. But how? I'm not part of the flock anymore. And who'll they kill? And how can they kill someone again?" I asked confused

_**Well, where I'm from it's quite easy to kill someone more than once, but that's neither here nor there. Besides, I can't really say anything more than that. I don't really know what else to say now. I suppose I'll just have to wing it. **_ He started laughing, but then stopped when he didn't hear me laughing. _**You see what I did there? Wing it? 'Cos of the flying bird kid thing? No? Ah never mind... I had best be off anyway. Got some stuff to do. I might not talk to you again, but I'm positive you'll talk to me, so till then, I shall bid you adieu. **_

I sat there in silence, confused by what had just happened.

_**Well goodbye then!**_

"Uh, bye." I said, bemused.

_**Tsk, kids today... No manners!**_

From then on there was nothing but silence, for the last 42 seconds of the song. I stared at the screen, expecting something else to happen. But nothing did. The clock ran out, my PC returned to normal, and I just stared at the screen, dumbfounded.

* * *

A week later, I woke up to the sound of screaming. My eyes snapped open instantly, and I sat up in my bed instantly. I listened out for any noises but couldn't here anything. It had been short and sounded like it had been cut off half way through. I would have dismissed it, except it sounded like my mother.

I looked at the clock on the other side of the room. 5:42 AM. The sun was just rising outside, and I could hear the birds chirping. I pulled a t-shirt on, and walked over to my door, and opened it slowly, so as not to make it creak. I listened out for any sounds, but hear nothing. I crept along the hall to the top of the stairs, and looked down. I saw a silhouette move through the shadow of the doorway to the lounge.

My body tensed. I began to hear some someone talking, but couldn't make it out. I made my way down the stairs, slowly. I made it to the bottom, having to jump the last 3 steps, or risk making the stairs creak. I landed softly, and walk to the door and stood with my back against the wall beside it.

"But if he isn't here to see it, he might not go back to the flock. If he see's us doing it, he'll know how serious we are, and that he has to go back." I recognised the voice instantly. Ari.

"No-one should have to witness the death of their parents. No-one should have to witness the death of anyone. I don't even know why I'm here." I heard Jeb reply. The death of their parents? What? I stepped into the doorway, and saw them with their backs to me, Ari in human form, Jeb, leaning over 2 figures on the sofa.

"You're here, because The Director said I need someone to keep me in line, _Dad_." Ari replied.

"Hey! What are you doing?" I shouted. They turned around and looked shocked to see me. I saw both my parents, bound, blindfolded and gagged on the sofa behind them I started to walk toward them, urging the power forward.

"Ah ah ah, no you don't!" Ari said threateningly, grabbing my mother, who was unconscious, and morphing his hand, holding a claw up to her neck. "One more step, and I rip her head off."

I stopped, and glared at him, feeling the power coming forward. "Now, you had better not go into that crazy macho mode you have Will, because if you do, both of them are going to die, right here, right now in front of you Will." Ari said forcefully, pushing a claw into my mother's neck, drawing blood.

I thought about this for a moment. I wanted to tear them limb from limb. But they would get to my parents before I could do that. "It's not that simple. I can't control it when I'm threatened." I told them stiffly.

"Well your just going to have to learn how to control it Will." Jeb said calmly. I stared at him, and saw the seriousness in his eyes. I closed mine, and concentrated, like I would to bring the power on, but instead, I willed it away. And it worked. I was surprised; I thought it would be a lot harder than that.

"Okay," I said, opening my eyes. "I'm calm. Now you're going to tell me why you want to kill my parents. I only just got them back." That was when I realised what The Dr. had meant when he said "Kill them again." I had thought I had lost them before. Now I was going to lose them again.

"You weren't supposed to have them back yet. You were supposed to split up the flock first." Jeb said.

"But I tried! They found me out!" I cried. "What did you want me to do? If I stayed, Fang was going to kill me!"

"You should have figured out a way, instead of just quitting. Now you've ruined it. Now we're going to have to do this." Ari said before suddenly swiping his claw across my mother neck.

"NO!" I screamed as I watched her body fall to the floor, dead. "NO NO NO NO!" I was going to be sick. This couldn't be happening. My vision left me for a moment, my head was spinning. "I'll kill you!" I shouted, starting towards Ari.

He grabbed my father, who was thankfully unconscious as well; oblivious to what had just happened. "Not if you want to see your Father die as well, you won't." He retorted. He looked unhappy, his face was green. He didn't look like he was all too pleased with what he had just done.

"How?" I sobbed. "How could you do that? She was pregnant. She was going to have a baby!"

"What?" Ari muttered. "They never told me that." He hissed to Jeb.

"What's done is done." He replied. "Will, we did not want to have to do this, we are just following our orders."

"Why? Why are you doing this to me? Why did you pick me out of thousands of people?" I cried, trying not to look at my mother's body on the floor, or the blood seeping into the carpet.

"You were never picked Will. You're just unlucky. You were born into it. Just like your parents were."

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"These people here, they aren't your parents Will. When Max read that your parents were dead, it was true. They've been dead for 3 years now." Jeb explained. "These people here adopted you when you were a baby. Your parents were like you, they had wings. You're what we call the second generation. Your parents were the first."

I was stunned. If I had been expecting anything, I wasn't expecting that.

"But... but what about Emily. Is she...?"

"She's your real sister. Your biological Mother died giving birth to her. Your Father soon after. She was always going to be here with you though." Jeb told me.

"But, I remember the pregnancy. I remember her coming come for the first time!" I retorted.

"All faked, for your benefit." He said. I stared at him in silence. I was adopted? My real parents were dead. The woman I thought was my mother was dead too? This was all too much to take in. Then I realised my Dad was still in danger.

"Please, don't hurt my Dad. I'll go back to the flock. I figure out a way to split them up! Just don't hurt him!" I pleaded.

"I'm sorry Will. But you've been punished for not following your orders. We'll be punished if we don't follow ours." Jeb said to me sorrowfully. He then looked at Ari, and said simply, "Do it."

"No please! Don't please!" I shouted.

Ari hesitated for a moment before closing his eyes, and swiping his claw across my Father's neck the same as he did to my Mother.

The last thing I remember was the power suddenly flowing freely through my body, all around me. I could feel it in my veins, through my heart, through my soul. My vision faded to red, and everything fell into a hazy blur as I let the power take over...


	23. Revenge At Dawn

Chapter 23: Revenge at Dawn

Ari POV

"I'm sorry Will." Jeb said to Will sadly. "But you've been punished for not following your orders. We'll be punished if we don't follow ours." He then looked at me, a look of guilt on his face, and said, "Do it."

"No please! Don't please!" Will pleaded. I looked at Will's dad. Could I do this? Should I be doing this? I knew in my heart this was wrong, that what I had just done was wrong. And yet, I found my hand moving swiftly across his throat. I let go of him, and he fell to the floor, next to his wife, dead.

I felt sick. I had killed before, but that had been in the heat of battle, when it was their life or mine. This was different. This was execution. This was murder. I looked at my father, hoping he would say something that would comfort me in some way. But he didn't look at me. He was staring a Will, curiously.

I turned my head to see Will, holding his head, and on his knees, thrashing. His head was shaking, his face scrunched up and his eyes closed tight. He began screaming, almost roaring, his head shaking violently. "Dad? What's he doing?" I asked, worried.

"I don't know." He replied slowly. "But something tells me we need to leave."

"But he's in the doorway, how are we-" I began, but stopped as Will stopped thrashing and shouting. His head was hung back, his hands slumped down by his side, fists clenched, eyes closed, and kneeling.

I saw his eyes open, and they moved slowly, looking at the ceiling. He looked to the side, surveying the room. Then his gaze fell on me. His eyes had turned extremely bloodshot, to the point they looked like black dots amongst a sea of blood. His eyes flicked to Jeb momentarily but otherwise stayed firmly fixed on me.

"_Dad..."_ I said slowly.

"I know Ari. Just don't make a sudden movement." He replied calmly. Will, slowly stood up, his fists still clenched, still staring at me, breathing slowly, a dark intent in his eyes. "Now might be a good time to morph." Jeb suggested.

"Waaay ahead of you." I replied, beginning to fully morph. I didn't even notice the pain anymore.

I was half way through the morph, when Will suddenly came at me with frightening speed. He ran across the room, faster than I'd ever seen anyone move. I instinctively ducked, but Will changed direction at the last moment, and struck my father in the temple with his fist, sending him to the ground.

I went to hit him, but he grabbed me by the throat and lifted me high of the ground. I tried clawing at him, but he just batted my hands away quickly and forcefully.

"**You killed my parents...**" he said in a voice a lot deeper and gravelly than his usual. "**How do you think it'll feel to lose one of yours?**" he put his foot on my father's head, who was just getting up, and pushed it into the blood soaked carpet.

I couldn't reply. The squeeze on my throat was too tight. I tried clawing and scratching at his hand, but it didn't budge.

"Will..." I heard my dad croak below me. "Will... Don't do this. You don't want to become a killer."

"**Yes, I do.**" He replied, not taking his eyes of me. "**I **_**really**_** do.**"

"Okay. But your parents wouldn't have wanted you to. They wouldn't have wanted to do this."

"**You don't know that.**" He replied.

"No, but you do." Jeb retorted, spitting blood from the carpet out of his mouth. "Look at them Will. Look at them!" My vision was beginning to go now, my lungs were screaming for air.

I saw Will's eyes glance down to the bodies of his parents. His head twitched. His eyes closed, and his head shook for a moment, before he opened his eyes, which were now back to their usual white. He looked down at Jeb, and lifted his foot off his head. Jeb started to say "Thank you" but was cut out as Will kicked him in the face, knocking him out. I thought I heard his nose break too.

Then he looked at me and said quietly "I'm not going to kill you. Because I'm not a murderer like you. Yet... And if we ever meet again, I'll do it in a heart beat."

My vision had almost left me. I could feel my self slipping away. Will's face contorted with hate, and he suddenly slammed my head against the wall behind me. Once. Twice. On the third, he dropped me, and I gasped for air, just as I slipped off into unconsciousness. But, luckily not death.

Angel POV

The next morning, we were camped out above the white cliffs of Dover in a small copse of trees. We had flown down relatively quickly, from London but we needed supplies, having left some of our stuff in London. We couldn't go back for it without risk being spotted by The Erasers.

By the time we had bought the stuff we needed, it was getting dark, and although it would take only a few minutes to fly across the Channel to France, we decided to rest up and get an early start in the morning.

I woke up before the rest of the flock. I was having a really horrible dream. It was full of blood and murder, a really strange dream. Nothing like I had dreamt before. It wasn't like a normal dream, just flashes and images. I wasn't able to make out much of it.

The sun still hadn't risen, and I knew I wouldn't get back to sleep after that nightmare, so rather than wait for the others to wake up, or eavesdrop on their dreams again, I decided to go for a walk along the cliff top. With the flock's raptor vision, they could easily see me along the cliff if they woke up to find me gone.

I peered out across the ocean as I walked. I could make out France from here easily, and I watched the first ferries of the day trundle across the Channel, towards Calais. The Sun was now beginning to rise now and I looked the other way to shield my eyes. As I did I saw something high in the sky off in the distance. I squinted, and could make out 2 figures, one significantly smaller than the other, both heading in our direction fast.

"Will?" I said to myself ludicrously. But as I looked harder, and they came closer, I saw for definite, it was Will, _and _Emily_,_ flying this way. Quickly I turned around and begin running back to the flock. I was in so much shock, I forgot to even fly. Luckily I hadn't gone far and was back within two minutes.

"Max!" I shouted as I ran into our campsite. Instantly, all five heads jerked up quickly, and alert.

"Angel?" she said alertly. "What? What is it?"

"It's Will!" I said, pointing to the sky, about two thousand meters out to sea, where I last saw him. But as I looked he wasn't there. The smaller figure of Emily hovering in the sky, but not Will. I scanned the sky quickly, and saw him, falling silently toward the ocean, and fast.

"Max! He's falling!" I shouted frantically.

"I see him." She hesitated for a moment before barking orders at Fang and Iggy. "Fang, Iggy come on! Iggy, South by South-West." Iggy nodded, and then Iggy and Max then did a run up to the cliff edge and flew out quickly towards Will, who was plummeting quickly. He had been about 3000 feet in the air, and had fallen about a third of that.

I then realised Fang hadn't moved. So had Nudge and Gazzy.

"Fang! Quick! You've got to help him!" Nudge said, distressed.

"No," he retorted, looking at Nudge. "I don't."

"Fang, you can't just let him fall, he's might die." Gazzy urged him.

Fang raised an eyebrow at him and said heartlessly "So? Rather him than me."

I looked at Fang gobsmacked, as did Gazzy and Nudge.

"Fang!" Nudge pleaded. He just ignored her and sat down, watching Max and Iggy close in on Will, who was now half way to the surface of the sea. "Oh for Pete's sake." She sighed, and flew off the cliff the same way Iggy and Max had.

We watched in silence as Max and Iggy caught Will about 50 feet above the ocean, and began to fly back. Nudge flew past them and went up to get Emily, who was still hovering there. I felt a small bit of pride, as I remembered I had been the one to teach her how to hover.

When Max and Iggy landed, they laid Will down on the grass. He was muttering under his breath something unintelligible, and was extremely pale. They were closely followed by Nudge and Emily. Emily stood close too Nudge, staring at Will, concerned.

"What's wrong with him?" Gazzy asked. "Is he ill?" Max put the back of her hand on his forehead.

"He hasn't got a fever or anything." She replied. "Angel, can you see what's going on in there?" she said, looking at me.

I nodded and closed my eyes, and pushed into his head.

"NO!" Will shouted suddenly, trying to sit up. "Don't! Can't! Too bad, too horrible."

"It's okay Will, just relax." Max urged, holding him down.

"No! Don't make me remember!" he moaned.

"What are you doing?" Fang piped in.

"What do you mean? There's something wrong with him, I want to find out what it is, so we can help him." Max frowned.

"Why? He doesn't deserve our help. He betrayed us, we sent him on his way." Fang said standing up. "Suddenly he re-appears, and after all that you want to help him?"

"Angel, sweetie, do it, find out what's wrong." Max said, ignoring Fang.

"But Max, Fang said-" I began.

"Angel, just do it!" she shouted at me, frustrated, trying to hold Will down.

"Oh, forget this then." Fang said, turning around, picking something up, and walking away.

Max groaned and then looked at me, "Angel please, I'm sorry for shouting, but just do it, please?"

I reluctantly nodded, and closed my eyes, and pushed my mind into Will's. Instantly I saw horrible things. The same things I saw in my dream, but in more detail. Will pleading with Ari and Jeb, Ari brutally executing his parents, Will lashing out, losing control of his ability. Then I saw him washing his parent's blood off himself, packing his and Emily's things, waking her up, and flying away, led to Dover by some unexplainable image in his mind, before fainting of the exhaustion in mid flight.

I pulled out, as I saw the cycle beginning to go back to the start. I stumbled back, and held my head, willing the images to leave it.

"Angel? Are you okay?" I heard Max ask. "What did you see?"

"I'm fine." I told her. "But Will isn't. His parents are dead. Ari killed them, right in front of him."

Fang POV

I was the branches of the trees, about 25 feet away from where the flock were camped out. I had a clear, yet camouflaged view of them from here. If they happened to look in my direction, they wouldn't see anything. It was nearing dawn of the day after Will came back. He had woken up during the day, but not said much. I had been watching him all day, waiting for the right time.

Will and been tossing and turning all night, and now, he looked to have given up hope of getting to sleep. He stood up, and Max, who was on watch said quietly, "Will? You okay?"

"Yeah, I just can't sleep. I'm going to stretch my legs." He replied.

"You want me to come with?" she asked him.

"No, I think I'd be better if I was alone." He told her, seemingly looking straight at me for a second. I froze, but he walked off into the woods, passing not far bye me. I waited till he was a good distance away from the flock, before taking off. I glided silently over the trees and saw him in a field on the far side of the woods, facing away from me.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the Swiss army knife I had taken earlier. I flicked open the sharpest knife on it, and flew over to him as fast as I could.

I barrelled him to the ground, and flipped him onto his front, and put the knife to his throat. He looked at me, for a few seconds, and then chuckled, seemingly unafraid. I frowned, "Why are you laughing?"

"I've been waiting for this all night, but you never showed. I figured you for the killing stealthily while they slept type, if any." He smiled. "But I got tired of waiting, thought I would get this over with."

"You knew I was going to do this?" I asked, holding the knife closely to his neck, using my other arm to hold him down.

"Well, I wasn't positive, but after what you said to me last time we spoke, and when I saw you camped out in the trees, I had a pretty good idea." He replied arrogantly.

"And you're not afraid? You're not scared?" I said with malice.

"Not really. At the moment, I'd kind of welcome death. Go on. Do it. I want you to." He pushed, looking me straight in the eyes, moving his head in towards the blade. "I'd have done it myself already, if I didn't have Emily to think about. I'm all she's got left. Having someone else do it would be much easier." He stared at me and me at him. We remained like that for a few seconds, before his head fell back onto the grass. "But, you're not going to kill me." He sighed.

"And why'd you say that?" I hissed, pushing the knife into his throat, drawing blood.

"Two reasons. The first, if you were going to do it, you'd have done it as soon as you jumped me, rather than having a conversation with me first." He mocked. "The second..." his smile faded, and he went serious. "Well, I know what it's like to have revenge in the grasp of your hands, to be within seconds of ending their life. I know how much willpower and strength it takes to do it. I didn't have it."

He sighed and said quietly, "I don't think you have it either." This was it. If I was going to do it, it was now. I tensed my arm, ready to make the fatal cut. My mind wanted to do it, and was telling my body to do it. But my body didn't move. I froze up. I couldn't do it.

Will raised an eyebrow at me and said, "That's what I thought."

"Now, if you don't mind..." He pushed me up and off me, and stood up. I stared at him hatefully. "I have some mourning to do." He turned and walked off, up the slope inland. I could see the light of the sun beginning to shine over it.

I just stood there, knife still in hand, watching him walk away. I thought I'd be easy. I had killed before. But they had been Erasers, in the heat of battle. I couldn't kill someone out of cold blood, or even mercy.

Will stopped suddenly as he got to the top of the hill, and I heard him mutter "Shit..." under his breath.

"What?" I called to him. "Did you forget something?"

"Err." He said, not looking at me. "You _might _want to see this." I sensed something urgent in his voice, but not wanting to go near him in case it was some kind of trick; I took off into the air, and rose upwards, so I could see over the slope. What I saw almost made me stop flapping.

About 20 helicopters, and a few hundred Flyboys, all coming right towards us. About a mile east of them, another group of what looked like Erasers, also flying straight towards us. Not to mention the Erasers on foot, running this way hurriedly.

I looked down at Will, who gazed up at me. "Yep..." I said to him. "Shit."


	24. A Spot Of Bother

Chapter 24: A Spot of Bother

Will POV

"Now, if you don't mind..." I said scornfully, pushing Fang off me and getting up. "I have some mourning to do."

I turned my back to him and walked up the slope, the sun beginning to shine over the top. I didn't blame Fang for what he had just tried to do. He had warned me, and I knew it was coming, but I genuinely thought he would do it. He had always seemed dark and mysterious to me. Out of anyone in the flock, I would have pegged him as the killer. Apparently I was wrong.

I made it to the top of hill, and then I saw them. Helicopters and Flyboys, about 2 miles away to the west, and heading straight towards us. Then I saw the others, another group of what looked like flying erasers, about the same distance, coming from the north. Not to mention The Erasers on foot, a group of about 20, a mile towards the north.

"Shit..." I uttered under my breath.

"What, did you forget something?" Fang sneered from behind me.

Momentarily forgetting what had just happened, I replied "Err, you _might _want to see this."

I heard him fly into the air so he was about 10 feet away from me. I looked up at him, and he at me. "Yep..." he sighed. "Shit. We need to go back. Now!"

"Look at them!" I said, staring back out at the Erasers. They were heading our way fast. "They don't look like they're here to talk. They look like they want to end this."

"Yeah, and that's why we need to go back now Will!" Fang shouted as he landed next to me.

"This could be it..." I said to myself.

"Be what?" Fang asked, frustrated.

"This could be the way to end it. They look like they want to kill us... Kill me..." I pondered quietly. I began to walk out towards the Erasers, who had closed in about half a mile now.

"Oh no you don't!" Fang shouted, stepping in front of me and pushing me back. "If I can't kill you, I'm defiantly not gonna let them kill you. This looks like it could be pretty big Will, and as much as I hate to admit it, I'm going to need you if this gets ugly, the flock's going to need you, and Emily is going to need you Will. So you stop what thinking about what you're thinking about, and get your butt out of here!"

I stared at him, and then back at the oncoming enemy. The helicopters were not far off now, the flyboys not far behind. "But I can't do this anymore! It's too hard! I don't get how you guys do it! You can't be normal, yet you don't want to be like you are! In my eyes there is only one other option." I cried, the sound of the choppers sounding out now.

"We do it, because we have each other! Just like you've got Emily. Don't give up Will. Keep her alive. Keep her alive by helping us all, now!" He shouted to me over the sounds of the helicopters which were directly overhead.

"Fine!" I shouted. We began to head back towards the woods on foot, unable to fly because of the helicopters. I looked up, and saw something drop from one of them. I landed with a thud and embedded itself a few inches in the grass. A grey orb of some kind, about the size of two clenched fists, with green lights flashing around it.

"What is that?" I asked Fang, stepping towards it, watching the lights begin to go out.

"I've been around Iggy and Gazzy enough to know what that is. That's a bomb!" he shouted pulling me back, as the lights went out completely. We had about 5 seconds of running away, before it exploded, the shockwave pushing us about 15 feet through the air, and into the woods, luckily avoiding the trees.

I looked back and saw a massive crater through the dust and dirt that was in the air.

"What the hell kind of bomb doesn't make any fire?" I asked Fang as I picked myself up.

"I don't know, but I don't want to stick around to find out. Come on." He said getting up himself. I began running back to the camp. I heard Fang behind me, keeping up, and behind him, the sound of many footsteps chasing us. After a few seconds I could see the campsite through the trees.

"RUN! RUN! RUN! RUN!" I shouted as loud as I could. "GO! RUN! GET OUT OF HERE! COME ON RUN!" I saw them just standing there, Max holding Emily, dumbfounded.

"Come on Max, do what he says! GO!" Fang shouted to her, as he helped Gazzy and Angel. I ran over to Max, and took Emily off her, who was crying. I picked up our stuff and slung it on my shoulder.

"Will?! What's going on? What _was _that?!" Max asked me, confused.

"No time!" I said to her, picking up her backpack and shoving it in her arms. "Just go!"

Max POV

I saw Will get up. He had been tossing and turning all night, but I wasn't sure if he was awake, or just having bad dreams. "Will?" I asked him. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I just can't sleep." He replied quietly, so not to wake the others. "I'm going to stretch my legs."

"You want me to come with?" I asked him, knowing full well what his answer would be.

"No, I think I'd be better if I was alone." He said, and walked off into the woods.

I waited until I was sure he was out of earshot before I said to the flock, "Okay guys, he's gone." I watched as they all got up. It was evident that Iggy and Angel hadn't slept, as they both got up straight away, whereas Gazzy and Nudge took longer and were genuinely asleep.

Emily was curled up near the fire, sound asleep.

"Okay then," I said as we all sat down in a circle.

"Wait." Gazzy said. "Don't you think Fang should be here?"

"Fang'll come back when he's ready. We all know where he's going to stand on this anyway, so I don't see the point in calling him back from his little nest up in the trees." I replied loudly, hoping he'd hear me.

"Actually he's not in the trees anymore." Angel yawned, wiping her eyes. "He's just gone after Will. He wants to kill him."

I looked at her for a second, wondering weather I had fallen asleep on watch and was dreaming. "Erm, what?"

"Its okay, Will knew he was in the trees, the same as you. He knew that Fang would come after him. He's not afraid." She said, very nonchalantly.

"You know Angel, sometimes the whole being able to read minds thing is sometimes just plain scary." Iggy said after a few moments of silence.

"It doesn't matter anyway." Nudge piped in groggily. "If he is going to do it, we won't be able to catch up and stop him now anyway. Right Max?"

"Yeah, you're right, but just in case he _doesn't _kill Will, we should still decide what we are going to do about him anyway."

"Well how are we going to decide? We don't really have time for a debate or anything." Iggy asked.

"Okay, let's start of simple. Raise your hand if you think we should let him stay." I said. No-one raised their hands. "Raise your hands if we should make him leave." Again, no-one raised their hand. "And if you have no idea at all?" All four of them put their arm in the air when I said that.

"Great." I mumbled.

"I'm going to go ahead and presume that no-one is sure what to do." Iggy said.

"Yep." Gazzy replied simply.

"Well," I began. "This might take a whi-"

All of a sudden, there was an almighty booming noise coming from the other side of the woods, followed by a whooshing sound, and then a massive shockwave, which knocked us all on our backs, and blew out the fire.

I jumped up on my feet, looking out over the trees, expecting to see a massive fireball, but there was none, just some mud and grass falling to the ground. I saw the sun was beginning to rise, and could see it shining through the trees. I now realised I could hear the sound of helicopters, from the other side of the woods.

"What _on earth_ was that!?" Iggy shouted.

"Was that an explosion?" Gazzy breathed. "That was massive! Where is the fire, and the smoke?" Emily had understandably woken up, and began crying.

I ran over to her and picked her up, trying to comfort her. "Hey, hey, it's okay. Don't-"

"RUN!" I heard Will's voice shout from the trees. I looked up and saw him and Fang, running as fast as they could towards us, waving their arms to get us to move. "RUN! RUN! RUN! GO! RUN! GET OUT OF HERE! COME ON RUN!"

"Come on Max, do what he says! GO!" Fang shouted as he ran towards Gazzy and Angel, handing them their backpacks he had picked up as he ran past, and pushed them towards the cliff, urging them to take off. Nudge and Iggy, grabbed their stuff and followed.

Will ran up to me, and took Emily off me, and picked up his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. "Will?! What's going on? What _was _that?!" I asked him incredulously.

"No time!" he replied, shoving my backpack into his hands. "Just go!" and he ran off to the cliff and took off, following the others. I looked back into the woods, and instantly headed towards the cliff when I saw the silluhettes of Erasers through the trees running towards us. Above us, I heard the sound of helicopters, and jumped off the cliff, letting the wind catch under my wings.

I looked up in time to see a grey sphere being dropped onto our campsite, flashing green lights coming from it. The next thing I knew there was an almighty noise behind me, and I was thrown through the air like a fly in a wind tunnel. I recovered just in time to see our campsite, and a fair part of the woods, falling down, the cliff collapsing, and falling into the ocean.

"Max!" Nudge shouted to me. "What do we do?!"

"We get away from them!" I shouted back to her. "We go as fast as we can!"

Nudge POV

"Max!" I called to her after watching the cliff collapse into the ocean. "What do we do?!"

"We get away from them!" She shouted back urgently. "We go as fast as we can! Let's go!"

We all ducked our heads down, and flapped our wings as hard as we could, heading south, toward France. I could hear the sound of the helicopters behind us, and I turned around just in time to see them dipping their nose, the rudders pushing forward, threatening to chop us up.

"Look out!" I screamed, and everyone turned their heads, and immediately stopped flapping, letting ourselves drop twenty feet or so, as the helicopters flew right over us.

Now we had stopped, I realised how many of them there were. About twenty choppers, all with men with guns in them, around a hundred flyboys buzzing around them, like flies. And now we had stopped, they bared down on us.

"Quick, formation B!" Max ordered us.

"What's formation B?!" Will shouted as he stared at the Flyboys coming ever closer.

"Just get in a circle with your back to everyone else!" Max barked frantically, as the Flyboys reached us, and began throwing their mechanical fists.

I dodged and ducked, kicked and hit, and managed to knock four of them down, before I took my first blow. A mistimed kick by me, led to my left being open for a few seconds. Unfortunately, that was a few too many seconds, and one of them got a punch in, square on my jaw, making me see stars for. I recovered quickly and was luckily able to push it back, blocking off others from getting to me.

I could see Angel too my left, holding them off sufficiently by making people jump from the helicopters above, and land on the flyboys, taking out as many as five at a time. To my right, Will had let Emily hover in the middle of the circle behind us, but was struggling to take many out. As an Avian-Human hybrid, he was stronger than a regular person, but he was untrained in combat.

"Will!" I called to him over the sound of the helicopters rotors above. "What are you waiting for? Use your power!"

"No!" he shouted back. "I'm not going to use that again. Not until I... I'm just not going to use it okay?!"

All of a sudden, the flyboys dispersed, falling back to the back of the helicopters.

"Report!" Max shouted behind me.

"Fine!" I called back along with everyone else. "Where are they going?"

"To deal with a greater threat." Fang said calmly, nodding out to the Flying Erasers who had caught up, and were heading for us.

"What? Why would they attack them?" Will gasped, regaining his breath.

"They don't work together, the Erasers have gone renegade." Iggy replied, wiping blood from a cut on his forehead.

"Well that's just stupid, their practically letting us go free. It's not like we can't avoid a few helicopters." Will said confidently. Almost as If they were listening, about half of the Flyboys broke off from their group and banked back round to us. "Oh." Will sighed.

"Quick let's go before-" Max began but stopped as she saw a wall of helicopters surrounding us to the south. "Ah. Okay then, the helicopters are going to form a wall? So are we. Fang top left, Will, Gazzy, below. Nudge, top right, Iggy and Angel, either side of me." She ordered. Will, held Emily's hand and led her behind the wall, protected from harm. In the distance i saw The Flyboys and Erasers clashing.

"Will, please, say your going to go into your "Super-strength mode" this time?" Max asked.

"No, not until I've... Not until I've got my own back. I just, can't." He replied.

We got into formation, and then the fight began again, as fifty or so Flyboys slammed into our wall. Angel was now using the few Erasers who had managed to reach us to attack the Flyboys, although some of them seemed to be doing it willingly. Fang was coolly knocking heads off them left right and center.

I looked down in between punches to see that the helicopters were now below us as well, and watched as the fallen Flyboys fell into the rotors. "Ew." I thought to myself as I kicked an arm off one of them.

Behind me I felt something brush past me quickly, and was lucky enough to have a break in the fighting so that I could turn around and see what it was. I managed to glimpse the form of a fully morphed Eraser, swooping down from above. Before I could call out to the flock below, it had arched into Max, shoved her forward forcefully, and carried on down, clipping Emily and knocking into Gazzy.

"Gazzy!" I called out at the exact same time as Will shouted "Emily!"

I watched in horror, as Will made to grab Emily from the air, missing by inches as she fell, and seeing both her and Gazzy falling down, towards the spinning blades of the helicopters below.


	25. Vanishing Act

Chapter 25: Vanishing Act

Ari POV

"Sir!" The pilot said urgently.

"What is it?!" I barked back, not wanting to take my eyes off the fight below. I was in a helicopter, circling the flock as they thought the robots.

"To the north, sir. The renegades." He replied nervously. I turned to look out the cockpit window, and saw them a group of about 40 or so Flying Erasers, all headed towards the ensuing fight beneath us. I snarled when I saw them.

I picked up the remote radio in my pocket, and shouted into it. "New orders. Proceed North by North-west and intercept the Eraser Fugitives. Engage in combat. Now." I watched below as the robots all withdrew from the flock, and headed towards the Erasers. I morphed myself, and jumped out of the helicopter and joined them eager to get my own back on some of my old comrades.

I joined the Flyboys and realised that they had all withdrawn from the flock. "Groups H through T, return to the flock and engage combat!" I didn't watch them go back, knowing they'd follow my orders.

I kept my eyes on the Erasers, some of them I recognised from my old team, some I didn't. It had always been hard to tell hem apart when they were morphed. They saw me too, and I saw them all push themselves forwards, eager to get a piece of me. Then one of them at the front of their pack shouted orders at them, and they calmed down. Their leader. I didn't recognise him, but he kept his eyes firmly fixed on me.

Seconds later, we clashed in the air, the robots barrelling through their predecessors, using their superior weight to barge them out of the way. I clashed into the leader, and instantly, our claws were thrashing. I used everything I had at my disposal. Slashing my claws, throwing my fists, biting him, but he remained strong, and battled on, doing the same to me.

I would take out others in the battle around me, as they thought the robots, whenever there was a break in my fight. At one point, I grabbed one from behind, and slashed my claw across his throat. I watched his body fall to the sea below, quickly dispelling the memory of the last time I slashed someone's throat like that.

The next thing I knew, two Erasers grabbed me from behind, holding my arms, and then another two grabbed my legs, holding me in place in the air. The leader flew in front of me, and grinned as I struggled to get free.

"You don't know who I am do you?" he asked me, letting the battle around him continue. Rather than responding to him, I decided to spit in his face. He slowly wiped it away and said "I didn't expect you too." All of a sudden he lashed out at me, pummelling my face, cutting my arm deeply with his claws. After about 30 seconds of this, he stopped, panting heavily. I didn't utter a cry of pain, or call for help. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"You always used to complain that your father paid more attention to Max than you, that he loved her more than you, how you envied her for having so much of your fathers' attention." He said, confusing me as to where he was going. "But you never saw how lucky you were. You got to spend time with him, you got to talk to him, have the chance to earn his love! I never even got that!"

With that he slashed his claws across my face, leaving deep scratches across my cheeks.

"What do you mean you never got that?" I gasped. "Who are you?"

"Oh, don't you remember me, Baby Brother?" he laughed. I stared at him, my mouth agape. He leaned in close to me and said, "Yeah, you heard me. Ever since you were born, my life has been hell. When you were born, he saw it as a second chance; I was seen as a failed experiment. I was thrown away like a piece of trash, sent off to find a life for myself. They just never found what they were looking for in me. And now, I'm going to do what you never could. I'm going to eliminate Max, and the flock. But first, I'm going to eliminate you..."

When he said that, he moved back, and had the Erasers turn me around. "What are you doing? What are you going to do to me?"

I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder blades, like a knife was slowly being pushed into my back. I turned my head to see the leader, my brother, slowly pushing one of his claws into my back, the look on his face suggesting he was savouring every moment off it. The pain quickly escalated. This would be fatal. I had to act. I mustered all the strength I had, and threw out my arms and legs, throwing The Erasers off me. For a split second I was free, and I quickly flapped my wings, making the claw, cut along my back. I screamed out in pain, and shot forward, and flew as fast as I could.

I didn't look back, but quickly the sound of the battle got quieter, and I headed back towards he helicopters. My vision was dulling however, and I couldn't make out which one was mine. The pain in my back was intense, not helped by the flapping of my wings. It was getting harder to flap them too, they were stiffening up. I felt myself slipping.

I could make out the black shape of a helicopter, and I headed for it. But as I was 50 feet away, my wings seized up, and I began to fall. I fell about a hundred feet, willing my wings to flap, but I just couldn't muster the energy. I closed my eyes, accepting the inevitable.

Suddenly, I crashed into something, and I felt y wing clip someone n the air, before I crashed into someone else.

"Emily!" I heard someone shout, at the same time as someone else shouted "Gazzy!"

I snapped open my eyes, and saw the blades of a helicopter spinning about 50 feet below me, as well as an unconscious figure falling in front of me. Without thinking, I mustered the little energy I had left, and grabbed the falling person from in front of me, and stiffened my wings as wide as they would go.

I felt the air catch beneath them, and I arched upwards, and glided towards a helicopter 60 feet ahead. I glided through the open door, and landed in a heap, before finally falling unconscious.

Iggy POV

I heard something whoosh beside me, and Max making an "Oomph!" noise as if she had the breath knocked out of her.

"Gazzy!" I heard Nudge shout from above me, at almost the exact time as Will screamed "Emily!" from below. No-one said anything, but I heard Will fly off hurriedly down towards the sounds of what I knew were helicopter blades below. The beating wings of Gazzy and Emily were gone too.

"What's happening?!" I shouted as I kicked a Flyboy out of the air. No-one replied. "Hello?" I called out. I could hear them panting, Fang and Nudge fighting above me.

Frustrated, I shouted out "Will someone please tell me what is-" but I took a blow to the temple, momentarily forgetting about the fight. I got knocked back away from the fighting, out into the open air. Dazed, I shook my head and started back towards the Flyboys, when I saw something.

I stared at it, frowning, and mouth agape. Now just to remind you, I'm blind. I can't see anything. So when someone who is blind see's something, it's a pretty big deal.

It looked like a bubble, a colour of which I had never seen before, even when I _could _see, in my life. Not white, not clear, not anything really. But inside the bubble, was a figure. A person. And they had wings.

Forgetting the fight, forgetting the flyboys, and Will and Gazzy, I flew straight for it, focusing on it, not daring to blink. I faintly heard someone call my name behind me, but I ignored them.

I had imagined things, and seen them in my mind, sort of like dreaming when awake; picturing my surroundings and such, but nothing had ever been this vivid, this real looking. As I flew towards the bubble, and the figure, they got bigger, as if I was getting closer to them. I could make them out now, a boy, in his mid to late teens, with scruffy brown hair, wearing a blue top, brown trouser, and some black trainers, and large, golden brown wings.

I was close to him now, and he glanced at me, and stopped. He was watching me, warily and tense. I stopped, about 5 feet from the edge of the bubble, which was about 10 feet wide, the boy in the center of it.

I stared at him, and then held up my hands to my face, but couldn't see them, just the boy in the bubble. The boy stared at me, and then looked around, behind him, confused. "Are you real?" I called out to him.

He looked around again, and then stared at me, and he muttered the word "What?" under his breath.

So I repeated "Are you real?"

"_What_?" he said loudly this time.

"_Are you real_?" I called out again, stressing each word.

"Can you see me?!" The boy gasped in an English accent I recognised.

I gave a small laugh of joy, as I replied "Yes."

"And you can _hear _me?" he gasped again.

"Yes." I said, confused as to why he asked me.

"But... But that's impossible. No-one is supposed be able to see me! How are you doing that?" He asked threateningly.

"I don't know." I said, half to myself, trying to figure out where I knew his voice from. "Who are you?"

He looked at me, flabbergasted, before replying "My name is Alex. Seriously, how are you doing that?"

"I don't know." I laughed. "Um, my name is-" I began but he cut me off.

"I know who you are. You're Iggy. I thought you were supposed to be blind?" He said.

"I am blind. How do you know my name?" I asked. I was so sure I had heard that voice before.

"I just do okay; I really don't have time for this. I need to do something so-"

But this time I was the one who cut him off. "Wait! I know who you are!" I stared at his face, his hair, his wings. They were exactly the same as he had described them. "You're Will."

He chuckled and grinned knowingly, and then said "No, I'm not Will, I just look like him. And if you don't mind, I need to go and make sure he's alright." He began to fly off, but I shouted after him.

"No! Wait! How can I see you?"

He stopped and turned around. "I don't know." He said, irritated. "No-one is supposed to be able to see me."

"What do you mean?" I asked, frowning.

"I'm invisible. No-one can see me, because I'm invisible okay? That's my power. Just like Will's strength, and Max's speed, and Angel's telepathy. I can turn invisible. I'm invisible now, in fact, or at least I thought I was." He said, angry now. "So now, I'm going okay? Goodbye." He turned his back to me and began to fly away, but I chased him. It wasn't hard to follow the only thing I could see.

He looked back, saw me, and groaned, stopping suddenly and turning around. I didn't have time to stop, and I collided with him, going inside the bubble. As soon as I did, I gasped, looking around. I could see. I could see the sky, and the ocean, the cliffs leading west along the English coast, the French coast to the south, and the sun in the sky. For a split second, I could see, and it was beautiful. Then Alex pushed me, shouting "Leave me alone!", and I fell out of the bubble, back into the darkness.

"If you can see me when I'm invisible, maybe you won't when I'm not!" He shouted at me angrily. All of a sudden he disappeared, replaced with the darkness that I had seen for most of my life. I swivelled around in the air, hoping to see him, hoping he was still there.

"Where did you go?" I called into the black. "Where are you?"

"Good," I heard him say to my left. I looked in the direction of his voice, but saw nothing. "Goodbye Iggy." Then I heard the swooping of his wings, and they disappeared quickly, into the sounds of the helicopters in the distance.

"No." I said quietly, tears in my eyes.

"No come back!" I shouted after him. "Please! Come back!"

There was no reply, and I swivelled around, hoping beyond all reason that he would return, just so I could see something again, so I could go back in his bubble and see.

"COME BACK!"

Gazzy POV

I woke up, dazed and seeing stars. What had happened? The last thing I remember was kicking a Flyboy in the stomach. Then I was here. A lucky Flyboy must have gotten around behind me, and taken me out. I looked around, and recognised I was on the inside of a Helicopter. There were 3 people inside, none of them looking at me, all looking out the door in the side, pointing rifles of some kind at something below. I looked to the left, and could see the pilot in the cockpit.

I was slumped uncomfortably against the side of the cabin, so I tried to get up, but soon realised I couldn't. I looked down at my arms, and saw they were locked in place to the wall in metal braces, just above the elbow, in a way that I could not get to the braces to free myself. The same went for my legs, with the brace just below the knees, attached to the floor.

I looked to my right, and in the corner in the shadow, I could see the figure of an Eraser, breathing slowly, unconscious. I couldn't see their face. I was about to shout out to the men, to find out what was going on, when the whole helicopter shook.

One of them men fell out of the helicopter, and the others fell on their backs. An alarm started to sound in the cockpit, and I could see the pilot frantically pushing buttons and switches on the control board.

"What's happening?!" One of the soldiers shouted, at the pilot, as he got up.

"I don't know, the rudders have just stopped!" he called back. I looked out the window, and could see that we were plummeting, and fast. Uhoh. "I can't start her back up, were gonna have to jump!" The pilot shouted out to the soldiers. I watched in horror as the two soldiers grabbed a couple of parachutes from hooks on the wall and jumped out of the helicopter.

"Mayday, mayday!" The pilot was shouting into a radio. "42 is going down, I repeat, I have lost control and we are going down!" He then pulled off his helmet, and went to grab a parachute.

"Wait, you can't just leave me here!" I shouted at him, as he strapped on his parachute. "Get these things off me!" I said, gesturing to the braces on my arms and legs.

The Pilot looked at me, and then out the Helicopter, the world zipping away outside. "Sorry kid." He said, and my face dropped. "At least you got company." He said, gesturing to the Eraser in the corner, before jumping out as well.

Oh god. Was this it? Is this really happening? I started tugging my arms desperately, trying to get free. All of a sudden, a strange grey orb came through the door and rolled over to in between my legs. The same kind which had blown the cliff into the sea. It had flashing lights on it, same as the other, and it they were slowly going out. Oh great, how could my day get any worse. Maybe if I was lucky, it would blow up 1st before I crashed into the sea, and drowned to death.

Then I saw something at the window. It was Will. He climbed in, struggling to do so, against the force of the dropping helicopter. There was something different about him, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Will thank god! Get me out of these!" I shouted to him thankfully.

He walked over to me and began tugging at the braces on my arms. There was something different about his face especially. His hair was shorter, and he had less scars. His clothes had changed too. Rather than questioning these things I decided to leave it to when my life wasn't in mortal danger.

"Will come on! Use your strength!" I pleaded with him; not knowing how long we had left till either crashed or blew up.

"I can't do that!" he shouted, his face strained from pulling on the braces. The helicopter lurched, and Will fell backwards. He turned around on his back and looked out the door.

"I'm sorry Gazzy!" he said, looking at me. "There's no time left! We're going to crash!"

I looked at him, and then to the orb, the lights had nearly gone out now.

"Go. Quick. There's no use us both dying." I said, tears in my eyes.

"I... I'm sorry." He said quietly, and then got up, and jumped out the door.

This was it. This was the end. I could see the ocean now, out the window. Any second now, I was going to die. The orb had two lights left, and had rolled off onto the other side of the helicopter.

Tears flowed freely down my cheeks now. I thought of the flock, and everything that had happened, how I had never gotten to say good bye.

CRASH! The helicopter lurched to a stop as it hit the water, and I bashed my head against the wall. The Eraser was thrown across the cabin. Water began gushing in, and I took a deep breath as water enveloped me. I could see the orb, through the water, one lone light flashing on it. This couldn't be happening. This was impossible. Someone or something had to save me.

But it didn't.

And then the light went out.

I closed my eyes, and my last thought was, strangely, of Will, and why he was so different, before I felt the force of the explosion shake my body violently.

And then, nothing. I was gone.


	26. Gone

Chapter 26: Gone

Angel POV

"Gazzy!" I heard Nudge shout, at the same time as Will shouted, "Emily!" I was able to tear away from the fight long enough to see Will turn and swoop down after Emily, who was falling down into the helicopter blades, as well as Gazzy and an Eraser.

"What's happening?!" Iggy shouted worriedly, but I couldn't answer him. Will wasn't going to make it; Emily was too far down already. I saw the eraser pluck Gazzy out of the air, either rescuing him, or taking him captive.

"Hello? Will someone please tell me what is-" Iggy was cut off mid sentence as he got hit by a Flyboy. Max must have seen that Will wasn't going to make it, as I saw a blur come from where she was and fly down to Emily, scooping her up, and away to safety with incredible speed, before Will had even gotten near.

All of a sudden all of the Flyboys broke off, and turned around, and began to head back toward where the other Flyboys were in battle with The Erasers. It looked like they were taking heavy losses. It was lucky too. With us all disorganised and fixed on what was happening below, they could have easily and quickly overcome us.

Max and Will glided back up to us, and asked, looking around "Where's Iggy?" I looked around myself, unable to spot him.

"Iggy!?" Nudge called out, her and Fang joining us from above.

"Over there!" Fang said, pointing off in the distance. I peered out and could see Iggy flying out towards sea.

"What's he doing all the way out there?" Will asked as Max handed a shaken Emily over to him, Will holding her tight.

"I don't know but at least we know he's safe." Max said hurriedly. "Did anyone see where The Eraser took Gazzy?" No-one answered. "Okay then. Angel, do you think you could find him? And quickly, who knows when those Flyboys'll be back."

Everyone stared at me expectedly, and I had no choice but to say, not all too confidently, "Yeah sure, I can try."

I closed my eyes, and pictured Gazzy in my minds eye, envisioning his scruffy blonde hair and his white speckled, brown wings. I could sense something, but it was faint, and I couldn't be sure.

I opened my eyes, and said, "I've got something. I'm not sure where, but I _think_ he over there somewhere." I said, pointing to where a group of helicopter were clustered.

"Any idea which one specifically, sweetie?" Max asked hopefully.

"Sorry, I'm still a bit shaky on finding specific people." I said, feeling guilty I couldn't have done better.

"It's ok, we'll just split up and check..." but she broke off as she looked over at the helicopters. We all looked over and saw what she was staring at. One of the helicopters rudders had stopped spinning and the helicopter was now dropping gracefully through the air.

"I'm willing to guess which one Gazzy is in." Will sighed.

We watched as two men jumped out of it, and opened their parachutes and began to drift toward the sea below. A third quickly joined them. We were about to bolt to the helicopter as quickly as we could, in hope of getting Gazzy, when a small group of about twelve Erasers appeared. Where were all these guys coming from? One of them barked orders at the others. "Hold them off!" Before quickly swooping down to the helicopter faster than I've ever seen an Eraser fly.

Before we knew it, we were fighting again. Usually it would be a walk in the park to dispatch of a dozen Erasers, but something was different about these ones. They were stronger and faster, a lot harder to fight. Plus we didn't have Gazzy or Iggy, and Will wasn't letting go of Emily, and was doing his best to protect her. I was finding it hard to penetrate the minds of these Erasers too. It was like they had built up defences around their minds. I managed to crack a couple but it took a lot of effort and it wore me out.

"It's done! Leave them!" The one who flew off shouted as he returned. They weren't fighting to kill; they were merely holding us back, to allow him time to do what he had to.

They flew off quickly, and we flew down towards the helicopter. Why was it taking so long to fall? It looked like it was defying the laws of gravity, and falling a lot slower than it should. As we got closer, I could sense my brother inside the helicopter. "Max! He's defiantly in there!" I shouted to her. She nodded and began to speed towards it, when it seemingly disappeared into thin air.

We all stopped in mid air, stunned. "Did that thing just disappear?!" Will said incredulously.

"Angel can you still sense him?" Max asked me, worried.

"No. I can't sense anything there where he was." I said, shell-shocked.

All of a sudden, as quickly as it vanished, it appeared twenty feet above the water. Max rushed towards it, us following, as it fell into the water with a large splash, a crunching noise coming from it. The helicopter quickly was submerged beneath the water. I could still sense Gazzy in there.

_**BOOM**_. A large plume of water shot up from where the helicopter was, and then a shockwave send us tumbling through the air. A large fireball extended into the air, smoke billowing from it. As I saw the helicopter sink beneath the water, I tried to see if I could still sense him, beneath the water. Wide eyed and terrified, I searched pushing my mind to the limit to find any trace of him.

But I couldn't. He was gone.

Fang POV

_**BOOM**_.

An explosion from the helicopter forced a tower of water fifty feet into the air, a large fireball immediately following it. We all got forced backward from the shockwave, even Max, who ended up tumbling back and almost colliding with us. We recovered in time to see the charred remains of the helicopter submerging under the water. And then it disappeared from sight.

We were silent, for a long time, just hovering there in shock. What I just saw couldn't have been true. Something was going on, this wasn't right.

"Angel?" Max stuttered, breaking the silence.

"He's gone." Angel breathed to my right. "Max, he's gone."

"No, he can't be. That's impossible." She retorted defiantly. "It's just impossible."

"Max, he's gone." Angel repeated, tears streaming down her eyes. I looked over at Nudge, who was already sobbing silently. Will was staring at the water, his face hardened, a glint in his eyes. "No Angel, he can't be. Search for him again, he must have gotten out!" Max shouted, her voice strained.

"He was there, before it hit the water, I could feel him. When it sunk, there was nothing. Not even a heartbeat. He's gone. Gazzy's gone..." Angel cried, coming over to me, and falling into my arms, her wings failing her. I held her, letting her sob into my shoulder, stroking her hair.

"_What?_" A voice behind us said. We swivelled around in midair to see Iggy, hovering 10 feet behind us. I hadn't even heard his wing beats. "What do you mean he's gone?" Iggy said, his eyes already glistening, as if he knew the answer to that question already.

No-one answered him. I don't think anyone could. I looked at Max, who was struggling to fight back tears, trying to remain strong, a leader. She looked at me, hopefully, as if she wanted me to answer. Some leader she was.

"WILL SOMEONE FUCKING ANSWER ME!?" Iggy shouted angrily. "What happened to Gazzy?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words would come out, I couldn't think of what to say.

"Uh... Gazzy he was, erm..." I broke off, struggling to figure this all out. I took a deep breath and carried on. "He was in a helicopter, an Eraser... it grabbed him, just before you disappeared. It, um, the helicopter, something... something went wrong, it started to fall... It hit the water, and then it..."

"It what?" Iggy whispered.

"It blew up. With Gazzy inside, it blew up. And Angel can't... She can't..." I broke off. I could feel tears straining to break through at the back of my eyes. I was blinking furiously, and squinting, fighting to hold them back.

"Why aren't you down there?" Iggy said sternly. "Why aren't you down there looking for him?"

I looked at Max, who stuttered, "Uh well, we. Angel said-"

"No offence, but Angel could be wrong." Iggy cut in. "She can go under the water, to the helicopter, and see if she can find him. If not she can bring something back up from it, and give it to Nudge. She'll be able to find out what happened from it. Right Nudge?"

Nudge stifled back her sobbing and replied, "Maybe, yeah."

"Iggy's right." Will piped in. "If we go now there might still be a chance of helping him."

"Sorry, but who said you were going?" I said cruelly to him, venting my frustration on him.

"_What_?" Will asked, confused.

"Will look!" Emily piped in, but he ignored her.

"None of this concerns you. I told you, we're done. The only reason we were just fighting together is because we had too. You can go now." I told him.

"Fang!" Max shouted, shocked.

"Look Will, look!" Emily said again.

"Emily, not now." He snapped, before answering me.

"What do you mean?! I'm going to stay, and help find Gazzy. You don't have the right to tell me not to! Don't tell me what I can't do!"

"Please!" Max shouted at us, beckoning for us to stop. "Fang this is hardly the time! _How _can you be arguing like this? The personal issues need to stop now. Iggy _is _right. We need to go find Gazzy."

"Will!" Emily shouted now.

"Egh, what is it Emily?" he finally answered.

"Look at the wave!" She said happily, pointing off behind us, back towards England. We all swivelled round, and once again, froze. As ridiculous and impossible as it was, what can only be described as a 200 meter high tidal wave was headed towards us from The English coast. As we stared, it tour through helicopters, Erasers, and Flyboys alike.

"Is that a _tidal wave_?!" Nudge blurted out frantically, which caused Max to snap to her senses.

"UP! Get up, above it!" she ordered, and we all instantly shot up, straight in the air, going about 300 meters just to be safe. We watched in awe as it swept across the channel, pulling just about everything that was down there, below the water. As it came towards the French coast, it lessened and slowed, and quickly collapsed to just become a slightly large wave, the type you would get from a passing cruise liner.

We came back down, and surveyed the damage. Bodies floating in the water, robot, Eraser and human, pretty much scattered all over the place, debris from Helicopters dotted around. The sound of spinning rudders on either side of us the distance put us on alert, and we could see from the colours of the new helicopters that they were the long overdue coastguard and police from France and Britain. We could see boats in the distance too, speeding our way.

"We need to go." Max said simply.

"But Gazzy..." Angel muttered, tears still streaming.

"We'll come back for him, but we can't stay." Max said as reassuringly as she could. "Which way?" she asked us all. "North or south?"

"I've had enough of England for one lifetime." Iggy said which was exactly what I was thinking.

"Tell me about it." Will sighed.

"Okay then. South." Max nodded. "France it is." and she began to fly, looping around out of the way of the French police. As we flew, I think we all were all thinking the same thing still. We could search and search for him, but we properly weren't going to find him. We had to accept the fact, as horrible as it was that Gazzy was gone.

Max POV

The next day, the whole English Channel was swarming with people. Police, Media, Recovery Teams, Tourists. The whole shebang. We wanted to get a newspaper, to find out what the media were saying, but the nearest town was quite small, and didn't have any in English, and we couldn't risk flying to a larger city, as the whole area was teeming with people.

We wanted to fly out, and try to find Gazzy, but again, it was too dangerous. What we decided to do in the end was to have Angel swim from the coast, and stay under water to avoid being seen. She said she would be fine, but it would take a long time.

None of us had been talking much. We hadn't said the "D" word in referring to Gazzy, we had to have some sort of proof. None of us could just accept it. At one point we were discussing the tidal wave, and how it was just completely ridiculous, that there had to be a logical explanation as to how one had formed so quickly and so tall, and swept across the channel like that. The only explanation anyone could think of was that a massive part of the cliffs in England had collapsed into the ocean, but even that wouldn't explain how the wave was taller than the cliffs in the first place.

Hours later, Angel returned. She claimed to have found the helicopter, and had had a couple of close calls with some divers. She said that the helicopter was a charred and tangled mess and that the explosion had ripped it to shreds. However, she was able to find something.

She had returned with what looked like Wall braces. She said they were attached to the inside wall of the helicopter, and there were some shreds of what looked like Gazzy's t-shirt around them. But she couldn't find any trace of him or anyone else there.

She handed Nudge the braces, and Nudge focused for a minute, before she burst out crying. As soon as she did that, we all knew it was true. Angel began crying, Iggy cried, even Fang had tears rolling down his cheeks. Will looked like he wanted to, but didn't feel he was allowed. Gazzy was our family; Will hadn't known him nearly as long as we had.

Once we had all calmed down a few hours later, Nudge ran us through what happened. Gazzy was strapped down, and couldn't get out. The helicopter went down, and when it hit the water, one of those bombs went off. The blast must have powerful to leave no visible trace of him at all. She said she couldn't find out how or why the whole helicopter disappeared for a short time.

And this is how we ended up where we were. Over a poorly made gravestone, in a copse of trees by the beach, in Northern France. We didn't have a body to bury, but we didn't want to leave without doing something. We knew that is his body wasn't in the helicopter, and that we wouldn't ever find it.

We all were stood around the Headstone, in horrible silence, the sound of the waves lapping against the beach the only noise we could hear.

"Um, does anyone want to...?" I sniffed through tears, gesturing to the grave. No-one said anything, and I was about to step up, and try and think of something to say, when Iggy suddenly spoke.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there." He said through tears. "I should have been there, with the flock, rather than off somewhere else. If I was there, maybe I could have... I couldn't have at least tried... I'm sorry Gaz... I'm gonna miss you."

Angel was sobbing silently into my side, holding onto me tight, Fang was comforting Nudge, who was crying onto his shoulder.

Will stepped forward now. He had been a bit out of our circle around the headstone, obviously unsure of whether he should be here.

"I can't help but feel like this is my fault. If you had never met me, you'd still be here. I'm sorry. It's not fair this has happened to you." I glanced up at Fang, who was staring at Will, almost hatefully. I knew him well enough to know he wouldn't do anything here, but I kept my eye on him.

Then Fang stepped forward, with Nudge as well.

"I'm really going too miss you." Fang said, obviously fighting hard not to be crying more than he was. "Whenever something bad happened or, there was a really awkward moment, you'd always be there, to do something really silly and immature. You'd always make us laugh. You were a great kid. I love you Gazzy. We all do."

He then waited with Nudge, who was trying to work up the courage to say something. However she eventually gave up, and sobbed "I just can't! I'm sorry, I can't." Fang stroked her hair, and comforted her telling her it was okay, that she didn't have to say anything.

That just left me and Angel. Angel wasn't going to say anything on her own, so I led us both up.

"You were our family. You were a brother to all of us." I began. "You were a terror when you were little, but you were a smart kid. To be honest, I think if you were going to bow out in any way, you would want it to be in a massive explosion of some sort. It's just a shame that it happened to you so soon though... It's not right that they can do this. It's wrong that this should happen. It's not fair."

I looked down at Angel, not entirely happy with what I said, but I felt I should stop, and was silent as she said her goodbye. "I love you Gazzy." She sobbed quietly, and said no more. Nothing more needed to be said.

* * *

The next day, we packed up our stuff and left. We flew up into the air, not caring anymore if anyone saw us. I just wanted to get away from there as quickly as possible, but at the same time, I wanted to stay there for as long as possible. It felt wrong, Gazzy not being here. One of our family was gone. And he would never come back.


	27. Life Must Go On

Part 3: Exodus/Insodus

Chapter 27: Life Must Go On

Nudge POV

A week ago today, was defiantly the worst day of my life. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was the worst day the flock had ever had. I could handle always being on the run, having the occasional scrap with Erasers or Flyboys, or even getting captured by the school every now and again, just about. But I don't think any of us could properly cope with losing Gazzy.

He'd been our family, like a brother to us. Hell, he _was_ Angels' brother. And now it felt like a part of me had gone. Knowing that he was never coming back was too much to handle.

All of us were coping with it in our own ways. I needed to talk about it and let it all out, but none of the others seemed to want to. Angel had barely said a word all week, just keeping her head down and being quiet and Iggy was acting like a zombie, barley reacting to anything anyone said or did except with a small grunt. Will kept going off on his own for long periods of time, sometimes with Emily, but usually without, leaving her with us. Fang didn't seem to be affected at all. He was as silent and emotionless as he ever was. And Max was trying to carry on like everything was normal, except at night when she would sneak off somewhere. I followed her one night, and found her sobbing silently against a tree.

Me, Angel and Iggy were all sat around the campfire in the middle of the forest. We were about a mile inland from the coast, though we generally steered clear from it. Too many bad memories. Max and Fang had left to go to a nearby town to find some food and supplies to bring back. Will had gone off somewhere again, taking Emily this time.

We were all sat, staring at the flames. I could tell we were going to need some more firewood soon, but I didn't feel like getting any. It had been like this most days, none of us really felt like doing anything. We needed time to adjust.

I kept thinking about the braces that Angel had bought back. I had one of them in my pocket, and kept running my finger over it. I knew it couldn't be right, that it was impossible, but I could see him there, as clear as day. I saw Gazzy, strapped up, inside the helicopter, the pilot jumping out, and then there he was. Will, coming in, trying to save him, but failing, and then jumping out, before the helicopter crashed and exploded.

I kept fixating on that more than Gazzy dying recently. I couldn't get my head round it. He had been there with us, and whoever was in the helicopter with Gazzy was wearing different clothes and had small differences about him. No scars, slightly different hair. I just couldn't figure it out.

I wanted to ask him about it, but I was suspicious of him. Maybe he had something to do with Gazzy's death. I wanted to speak to Max about it, but it was hard to get to talk to her about it with everyone's current state.

It was when I was thinking about this, that Angel suddenly spoke.

"What do you mean he must be Will's twin?!" She said curiously.

I looked up from the fire, and saw she was staring at Iggy now. He looked shocked, and his mouth was agape slightly, as if he was trying to say something, but didn't know what to say. It was the most I'd seen him do all week.

"He was invisible, but you could see him? He's Will's brother or clone? What do mean Iggy?" She asked incredulously. Then she looked at me. "And what do you mean it must be the same person you saw?"

"Hey!" I said to her, defending myself instinctively. "You shouldn't eavesdrop on people like that! It's rude!"

"Well you know I can't always control it." She sounded back. "Besides, don't change the subject. How could you keep something like that from Will? Look what happened last time!"

"Well... I was just..." I stammered, trying to think of something.

"What do you expect Angel?" Iggy said. "Gazzy's dead, Will's off being all emo all the time. It's not like I've had the chance. I'm guessing that's why Nudge hasn't said anything. Right Nudge?"

I nodded in agreement, slightly shocked at Iggy's bluntness.

"What did you see?" he asked me, leaning forward.

"Umm, the brace, that Angel got from the helicopter. I saw Will, or someone who looked like Will, come in while the helicopter was crashing, and try to save Gazzy. But he couldn't do it, and jumped out just before the helicopter crashed." I explained carefully. "What about you?"

Iggy, sat upright again, and tilted his head up slightly. "During the fight, I saw something. I actually _saw_ something. I flew towards it, and it was like a bubble, filled with..." He broke off trying to think. "I don't know how to explain it. It was like I could _see_ the air in the bubble, but nothing behind it. It was almost just light."

"Anyway, in the bubble was this boy. He looked just like Will had described himself to me, and he sounded exactly the same." Iggy paused. "He knew things. He knew who I was, and that I was blind. He knew our names and that some of us have special abilities. He said his name was Alex, and that he had to see if Will was alright. He said he was invisible and that I shouldn't be able to see him at all. Then he disappeared."

Me and Angel looked at each other awkwardly. "So you could physically _see him_?" I asked Iggy. He nodded slowly in reply. "But how?!"

"I don't know. But it looks like when he was invisible I could see him, and when he wasn't, I couldn't..." he pondered.

"I'm confused." Angel said.

"Join the club." Iggy muttered.

"Well do you think we should tell him?" I asked them.

"Yeah, I think we should." Iggy said, standing up.

I stared at him, unsure. "What, now?"

"Yep, now. Why not?" he said bluntly.

"Shouldn't we talk to Max and Fang about this?" Angel asked worriedly.

"No, he deserves to know now. Besides, Fangs probably not going to care and Max isn't exactly herself anyway. I'm no sure she'd take it all in properly." He said quickly. "So, where _is_ Will?"

"I can find him." Angel said confidently standing up too.

"Great." Iggy said and then looked towards me. "Are you coming?"

I looked at him, and at Angel, and then sighed. "Yeah sure, why wouldn't I?"

Will POV

So this was it? This is what I had come to? Standing on the edge of a 50 foot cliff, wings tucked firmly in, ready to jump onto the rocks and waves below? I don't know how I had gotten to the place I was at, but I did know I wanted it to end. This seemed like the simplest and easiest way. It would probably be best for everyone. It wasn't like anyone would miss me. Emily might, but she's young, and would be able to move on with her life.

But why was I still holding her if I was going to do this. Why hadn't I left her back with the others? I had already decided that I was coming here to do it, but then why did I bring her? Did a part of me want to take her with me? I couldn't exactly leave her all alone in the world. I wouldn't have any guarantees that the flock would take her in. She was asleep over my shoulder, she wouldn't realise it was happening. Neither of us had anything or anyone except each other. It would only be fitting.

I looked down at the sea below, the waves silently lapping the rocks below. It was so peaceful, so serene, and so perfect. So why haven't I done it yet? I wanted to leap off, just to end it, so I never had to remember that night a little over a week ago ever again.

I thought about Gazzy, how it was my fault he had died. If I hadn't of found the flock again, the Erasers wouldn't have found them. They were following me, and I led them straight to the flock. Everywhere I went now, only bad things happened, always because of me. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that we had been dragged into this horrible world. I was happy living a normal life, with my parents, going to school, having friends, not having to worry about getting killed by flying werewolves all the time.

I thought back to what Jeb had told me, that my real parents were like me, that they had wings. But how had I gotten wings? I never had them before I was taken, and Emily had never had them either. What had they done to us during the 6 months when we were captured? I didn't want to know.

"Will?" a voice behind me said, "What are you doing?" I turned my head, to see Nudge, Angel and Iggy, standing by the tree line, staring at me.

"Eeeerm," I said, trying to think of something. "Nothing." Wow, great thinking there Will.

"Were you going to jump, Will?" Nudge asked shocked.

I looked down at the sea again and then back at them. "Yeah." I replied slowly

"Jump off what?" Iggy asked Nudge, sounding irritated.

"A cliff." She said, not taking her eyes off me.

"A cliff?!" Iggy said loudly, and then looked towards me. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Well... I... I..." I stammered.

"He blames himself for Gazzy dying." Angel said quietly. "He thinks it was his fault."

"No! Well, yes but...That's not why." I sighed.

"Well then what _is_, Will?" Nudge asked.

"You wouldn't understand!" I shouted at them angrily. "You don't know what it's like!"

"Don't you say that! We lost Gazzy too! We're on the run too you know?!" Nudge shouted back.

I half laughed at her as she said this. "You think you've got problems, that your life is so bad. You have no idea!" I cried, turning to face them completely. "Look, I'm sorry that Gazzy died, really, I am, because believe me, I know what your going through. And that's just it. You've still all got each other, you can all carry on with what life you had before, and no, it won't be the same, but it'll be pretty close, even if it is moving from place to place."

"But me? I lost my home, my friends, my whole family. I lost everything and everyone that I have ever cared about, except for Emily. And she doesn't even realise that she's lost it all too. There's nothing at all left for us."

"That's not true Will! You do have someone who cares about you." Angel piped in.

"Oh yeah? Well who's that?" I said mockingly.

She suddenly looked timid, and glanced up at Nudge, who then glanced at Iggy, and gently nudged him in the side.

Iggy breathed deeply and said, "I, um... I _think_ you have a brother."

I stared at him for a second before exclaiming "What?!" very loudly.

Iggy sighed and said "During the fight, over the channel, I met someone, who said he had to make sure you were okay. He sounded _just_ like you, and he looked just like you described yourself. I think he was your twin."

I blinked, completely confused. "I saw him too." Nudge said. "He was in the helicopter just before it crashed."

"Okay..." I said slowly. "I'm going to guess you saw him when you had the braces Nudge?" She nodded in reply. "And I'm not going to even begin to guess how you saw him Iggy. How do I know you're telling me the truth? You could just be telling me what I want to hear."

"I can show you." Angel said. "I can put what Iggy and Nudge saw into your head, so you can see for yourself."

"Well do it." I said quickly, wanting to see this person for myself.

Angel closed her eyes, and frowned hard, as if she was concentrating really hard. Suddenly I had a low throbbing headache as the images poured into my head. I saw a series of images, like a comic book, of what nudge and Iggy had described. A boy, looking exactly like me.

Suddenly, the headache strengthened and sharpened, and my vision went dark. I fell to my knees, and clutched my head, dropping Emily onto the grass. My head hurt like mad, and more images flooded into me. A girl with long, sleek brown hair, looking down at me smiling, a large, dark red dining room, with a long wooden table in it, a man injecting something into my arm, the boy, playing happily with Emily inside a bedroom, the girl again, her hands on either side of my head, her face concentrating fiercely on something.

Then the images stopped, and the headache subsided, just as quickly as they had started. I opened my eyes, and looked at Iggy, Nudge and Angel, who had run over to make sure I was alright.

"Alex." I breathed. "His name was Alex."

Angel POV

"Alex. His name was Alex. He _is _my twin" he said, sounding confused.

"Will, are you okay?" Nudge asked, as she picked up a confused Emily.

"How did you do that?" Will asked me, ignoring Nudges question.

"Do what?" I replied. "And how did you know his name? I didn't send you any sounds, only images."

"Will what's going on?" Iggy said.

"Enough with the questions!" He shouted suddenly. "How did you do that?" he asked me again, stressing each word.

"What did I do?!" I said worriedly.

He looked around, as if dazed and said, "I saw something. Like flashes. I think it's what happened to me before I met you guys."

"You mean from the six months missing from your life when the Whitecoats had you?" Iggy asked.

Will nodded, and then remembering Iggy couldn't see, said "Yep. I saw Alex. And a girl and someone injecting me with something. It was strange. But he's defiantly my twin. He's the older one, by about 15 minutes..." he trailed off.

"Will, how do you know that?" Nudge asked, sounding as bemused as I was feeling.

"I don't know. It's like I... it's like I remember." He pondered.

Nudge looked at me curiously and then asked, "Angel, did you...?"

"I don't know what I did." I said quickly. I wasn't even sure if I had done it, whatever it was.

"Yeah, well the point is Will, you do have someone. You have a brother, who, from the last I saw, was looking out for your wellbeing." Iggy said, heaving Will onto his feet. "So why don't you come back to the camp with us, and start acting normal."

"In fact, we can all start acting normal. Gazzy's gone. We need to just deal with it, and stop moping around. It's not going to get us anywhere."

Suddenly a thought popped into my head. I thought about it for a second, before sending it to Nudge and Iggy. _**What if he already knew about Alex? What if he's just acting?**_

_**Don't be stupid, you would have picked up on something like that ages ago.**_ Iggy sent back, and transmitted it over to Nudge.

_**Wait, maybe Angel's right. Isn't it a bit convenient? Like Will's "brother" showing up just like that, trying to save Gazzy. The way he was acing, it was like something had gone wrong. What reason would Alex have to try to save Gazzy? Maybe Will does have something to do with it.**_ Nudge thought.

_**You're both being stupid. **_ Iggy retorted. _** We'll **_**talk **_**about this later; I can't concentrate on this and getting back to camp.**_

_**

* * *

**_

Later that evening, Will and Emily were fast asleep, and we had grouped away from the campfire, to discuss what to do.

"Look I just don't think we should be jumping to conclusions like this, your basing all of this on absolutely nothing!" Iggy hissed at Nudge.

"How am I basing this on nothing?" Nudges retorted back in a hushed tone. "He's betrayed us once before, who's to say he won't do it again? How do we know everything that has happened since the start was planned out like this?"

"Okay, I'll admit, we don't know, but what right do we have to assume?" Iggy whispered.

"We've got every right! We don't really know what he is capable of. How did he find us again, back in England? He _knew_ where we were! How is that possible?" Nudge replied.

Iggy was silent, trying to think of something. "Maybe he's more powerful than we thought, maybe he isn't telling us everything." She continued.

"But Angel would have picked up on that." Iggy said.

"I haven't gotten anything from him Nudge, maybe he's clean." I joined.

"Or maybe, he's like that guy in Birmingham. That Dr. You couldn't pick up anything from him either. Maybe Will can do that!" She said hurriedly, glancing over at him.

"Shouldn't we talk to max about all this?" I said, yawning.

"Yeah where is Max?" Iggy pondered. "She's been gone hours." Almost as if she was hiding in the bushes waiting for her cue, we heard her voice over the trees.

"Fang, for crying out loud! You're over reacting! Don't do this!" she shouted as she and Fang shot into view. They landing clumsily, and Fang instantly headed for his stuff, and Max held her head in her hands.

"No, I've given you, and him, every chance!" Fang shouted back. "Well I'm through giving chances! I'm through with taking the back seat!"

Will had woken up now, and all of us were staring curiously at the spectacle happening before us. What had happened while they were gone? Fang packed his stuff into his backpack and slung it over his shoulder forcefully, and stared at Max hard.

"It's time you decided." Fang said sternly, pointing cruelly at Will. "Either he goes, or I go."


	28. Power Struggle

Chapter 28 – Power Struggle

Fang POV

I sat with my back against a tree, eyes closed, and thinking of what had happened to us in the last few months of our lives. Being recaptured by The School, with none of us remembering how it had happened, the introduction of Will, escaping, being captured, escaping again, only for everything to suddenly fall apart around us. Will betraying us, even though I had told everyone he couldn't be trusted, they still didn't believe me. Will conveniently returning only for us to be attacked hours later, losing Gazzy.

And now we were here, in a forest somewhere in Western Europe, moping around for over a week.

I heard footsteps, walking towards me, and I opened an eye, to see Max. She sat down beside me, and but her elbows on her knees casually, and didn't say anything.

"Hey." I said, before the moment got awkward.

"Hey." She said back simply. "What's up?"

I looked around at the small clearing we had been in for the last week, then at her and replied, "Not much. You?"

"Not much either." Max said casually. She was such a great conversationalist. "I've just been thinking about heading into a town, we've been low on supplies now for a while."

"Yeah we have." I agreed, waiting for her to ask me to go with her. But she didn't.

So I asked, "You want me to come with?"

"Umm, yeah sure if you want." She replied with enthusiasm. "You wanna go now?"

"Why not!" I said with fake enthusiasm.

"Okay, I already got our backpacks ready, let's just tell the others." She said getting up. I could see what she was doing here. Trying to make me think it was my idea to come, when really it was hers. I'd never seen Max trying to be manipulative before. Then again, it was probably for the best. She wasn't very good at it.

I got up myself, and followed her over to the flock and Will, who were grouped around the fire, not saying anything.

"Hey guys," Max called to them, with only Nudge bothering to look up. "Me and Fang are gonna head out to town, get some supplies. I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting sick of eating freshly hunted rabbit." She laughed. No-one else did. God they're all being worse than me. "Umm, yeah, anyway, Iggy you're in charge till we get back, okay?"

"Ermph" he grunted in reply. It was the longest sentence I had heard him say in 2 days.

"Yeah you just hang in there buddy." I said, patting Iggy on the shoulder as I walked past him.

"But how long will you be?" Nudge asked worriedly. "Where are you going? What if you don't come back?"

"Don't be such a worry Nudge. Nothings going to happen!" Max said not all too sincerely. I looked at her as she turned around and slung her pack over her shoulder.

I turned to Nudge and said quietly "It's okay, we'll be fine. We're just going to town to get supplies. We'll be back later today, okay? I promise."

Nudge looked at me, and then to Max, then back to me, and nodded.

"Okay, Fang, are you ready?" Max asked me.

"As ready as I'll ever be." I muttered, and nodded to her, as she already ran off and jumped into the air, spreading her wings and taking flight. I sighed to myself, thinking I probably shouldn't have offered to come. Something told me nothing good was going to come of this. However, I reluctantly spread out my wings, and ran off towards her, jumping into the air and glided over the trees towards Max.

The town was only a few minutes away as the Human-Avian hybrid flies. We set down in a back street, so as not too be seen and made our way towards the main road. It seemed like a small town, with only one street with a significant amount of shops on it.

Max and I spent a couple of hours, getting food, and clothes. Anything we felt we would need. She was still acting differently, like she was trying to pretend that nothing happened a week ago. She was starting to annoy me with all her cheeriness. I knew it shouldn't that in a way, she was right, we should just try to carry on as normal, but it irritated me that I hadn't seen any type of mourning from her at all. There was being a strong leader, and there was being an idiot. She needed to start acting normal, even if I had to make her.

We were just leaving the last shop, our backpacks full, and the sun was beginning to set, when I saw a store across the road, which gave me an idea.

"Hey Max, check it out." I said to her gesturing across to the store.

Max looked over and frowned. "An Internet Cafe? So what?"

"Well we haven't been able to check up on our situation in a while. Why don't we have a look at what the media has said about last week, see whether the heats off us?" I explained.

Max looked at me, thinking. "I dunno, I mean we haven't been bothered in a while. I don't really think it's necessary."

"Of course it's necessary!" I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the store. "Come on." We went in and bought an hour each, and sat down on PCs next to each other. I instantly logged onto the net, and went to a news site. After navigating my way back by one through, I found a few articles on a dogfight between flying creatures above the English Channel, but nothing major. Apparently a serial killer was loose in Miami, and it meant that the fight was being pushed back, not being deemed as important.

I decided to try a British news site instead, thinking that would have more coverage of it. Instantly I saw it. It was still the main news of the country, and was getting al lot of public interest.

I read through a few articles, and found that the media were as bemused as to what had happened as we were. Experts had been called in to judge the cause of the tidal wave, and there were hundreds of bodies, not all human, washing up on both the English and French coasts.

"Oh." I uttered accidently when I read the next part.

Max looked at me and asked "What is it?" I pointed at a portion of text on the screen. "_There are witness statements of a minor's body, washing ashore in Kent, England, amongst that of apparently wolfen creatures, but these reports are, as of yet, unconfirmed_." She read aloud. "Oh. "

"Do you think it might be Gazzy?" I asked her quietly.

"Umm, I'm not sure. Maybe. It says unconfirmed though so..." she trailed off and returned to her screen. I looked at what she was reading.

"What is that?" I asked her. "That's not the channel."

"No, I was looking at some stuff about Genetic Research facility which was blown up outside of Birmingham a few day's ago. I think it's the facility we were at." She explained.

"How can you do that?" I asked her.

"Do what?"

"Act like nothing has happened! Gazzy is dead, Max. At least show you understand that!" I exacerbated.

Max looked around uncomfortably at the people on the computers around us. "Fang, this is hardly the time."

"No this is the prefect time!" I said loudly. "You need to stop acting like an idiot, and start seeing sense!"

"Sense of what?" she asked bewildered.

"Sense that you're not being a proper leader. You're supposed to be helping everyone get through this; you're the one who's supposed to be paranoid of newcomers. You're the one who is supposed to take charge, take action!" I shouted at her. People were staring at us now, and Max got up and began to leave the store, conscious of all the eyes that were on her.

I followed her out the stop, keen to get this off my chest. "So why is it," I pressed as I walked out of the door, following her down the street, "That I'm the one doing all the leading lately?"

"Oh so that's what this is about?" Max retorted. "You think you could do a better job than me as head of the flock?"

"Yeah maybe I do! For a start, I wouldn't have let Will into the fold again. Hell I wouldn't have let him in in the first place. I wouldn't have let my personal feelings get in the way of the flocks safety!" I said to her.

She stopped underneath a lamppost, and turned around to face me. "What do you mean personal feelings?" she frowned.

"Oh come on Max. If it was any other person, you'd be as suspicious as them as I am of Will. It's obvious you like him. He's someone new who you feel you can genuinely relate to, who you can help, who you can save, because he is so much like you."

Max stared at me for a moment, mouth agape, and then laughed. "So that's it! You're jealous!"

"Don't you try and turn this on me!" I began but Max cut in.

"No. You _are _jealous. And you know what Fang, you should be. Yeah, maybe I do _like_ him, but you had years to do something about your feelings for me. But you never did. Whereas Will, he tried to make them clear within a few months." She sneered.

She stepped up close to me, so she was right in my face. "So Fang, you wanna be the leader? Okay. Why don't we let the flock decide hmm? Why don't we go back, and let's just see what they say, see who they want to follow?" She hissed. "So how bout it?"

I looked into her brown eyes, and moved my head towards her so that our noses were almost touching, and said simply, "Fine."

Max POV

Okay, maybe I shouldn't have pushed him into this. But he shouldn't have pushed me. I was so angry with Fang, I couldn't describe it in words, it was like all the feelings I'd been bottling up over the last week were coming out. We were both flying back towards camp quickly, Fang in front. I could easily overtake him if I wanted to.

_**Max, are you sure you want to do this?**_

"Oh great that's just what I need." I thought. "Go away Voice, I don't need this right now."

_**You realise what's going to happen Max. No matter what happens, if you let Fang do this, you **_**will **_**lose at least one member of the flock.**_

"Don't be ridiculous, no-one will choose him very me, not after everything I've done for them." I retorted in my head,

_**Even if that is true, do you really expect Fang to stick around after this? Either he'll make a fool of himself, and no-one will choose him, and he'll be too ashamed to stay, or he'll leave and take half of, if not all, the flock with him. You should be able to figure that out Max.**_

I thought about this for a moment, and realised the voice was right. "Oh god what was I _thinking? _ I can't let this happen, I can't lose Fang!"

_**Have you been paying attention to the flock lately Max? Are you sure that it'll be just fang you're going to lose. With the flocks in its current state, you could be looking at a mass exodus on your hands.**_

Oh crap. I looked ahead, and could make out the clearing where the flock where in the distance by the glow of firelight coming from it. I had to be quick. I flew up next to Fang and said hurriedly. "Fang! I'm sorry, okay. I've not been myself lately, no-one has. Listen lets just slow down and we'll figure something out okay? Just you me." I looked at him hopefully, but he didn't look at me.

"No, Max. It's too late; you've set the wheels in motion. I've had enough." He said bluntly and sped up ahead of me.

"Fang, for crying out loud!" I pleaded as we headed over the last trees and into the camp. "You're over reacting! Don't do this!" I landed clumsily, and held my head in my hands as Fang went straight to stuff and started putting it in a pack.

"No, I've given you, and him, every chance!" Fang shouted back. "Well I'm through giving chances! I'm through with taking the back seat!" I looked around at the flock, who were all staring at the spectacle before them with worried looks on their faces.

"It's time you decided." Fang said, pointing at Will. "Either he goes, or I go."

Will looked from Fang to me, and then back to Fang, a look of genuine concern on his face. He was worried he was going to be out casted.

"Fang look; it doesn't need to come to this!" I negotiated. "We can sort something out okay? We can all sort something out."

"No, we can't Max. It's gone too far." He said to me bluntly. "So what's it gonna be?"

I looked from Fang, to the flock, to Will and Emily and back to Fang, raking my mind for something to say. "Fang, I..." I stuttered. "We can't... We can't just boot him out. He's got nowhere to go."

Fang looked to the ground, stern jawed. I could tell he was gutted that I has said that. I don't think he had fully thought this through either. "It wouldn't be fair on Will." I said finally, tears in my eyes.

"Yeah that's what I thought." He muttered quietly.

Will, who had been silently watching along with the rest of the flock, spoke up and said "Hey, I don't want to get-"

"You..." Fang shouted at him. "You just _shut_ your face!" he breathed in deeply and then turned to Iggy, Nudge and Angel.

"Right then. I'm leaving. Anyone who agrees with me, are welcome to come with." I looked at them, who all had look of worry on their faces. Nudge kept on flicking her eyes between me, Fang and Will, whilst Iggy was staring off, thinking. Angel had her head hung.

"Guys, its okay." I said to them. "Look, if any of you want to go with him, its fine. I won't-" but broke off, when Angel stood up and strolled over to Fang, picking up her backpack on the way. "Angel?" I breathed.

"I'm sorry Max." Angel said, not looking at me. "But it's because of him that Gazzy's dead. I don't want to be around him any more. He scares me."

I looked over to Will when she said this. He had his head hung down, staring at the ground.

"He's right Max." I heard Nudge say. I turned to her, to see her stood up, and picking up her backpack. "He tried to split us up. He can't be trusted." She started to move over to Fang and Angel. "And until you realise that, I don't think you can be trusted either."

All eyes now fell onto Iggy, who hadn't moved yet. "What about you Ig?" Fang called over to him. "You staying or going?"

He looked over to where Fang was and said, "I think you got it all wrong Fang. I think you all do. I know we're all trying to cope with Gazzy being dead and all, but this is a bit extreme don't you think? Will never meant any harm; he was just doing what he could to protect _his _flock, him and Emily. We'd have done the same thing. Max has lead us right for over a decade. Yeah, it's been a bumpy ride, but she's done all she can..." He trailed off. "No, I'm not going anywhere."

"Fine." Fang said quietly, whilst I looked at Iggy with silent pride. "You two got everything your gonna need?" Nudge and Angel both nodded. He looked at me, and said."Well, Max, if you ever change your mind..." before trailing off, unsure as to how to finish. "Goodbye."

He looked down at the girls, and muttered to them, "You should say your goodbyes." before running and taking off. Nudge and Angel, looked at me, both with tears rolling down their cheeks.

"It's okay." I smiled solemnly to them.

They both looked at me longingly, before Angel ran over quickly, tears streaming down her face. She grabbed a hold of me so tight, it hurt, but I hugged her back just as hard. "It's okay." I kept repeating sadly. "It's okay."

Iggy then came over, and hugged them just as tightly; Nudge whispering something in his ear. I knew there was nothing I could do, that they were leaving.

It all seemed to pass in a blur, but we must have been holding tight to each other for a few minutes. But before I knew it, Nudge and Angel were turning away, going off to join Fang.

"Wait!" I called to them just before they took off. They stopped and turned around, and I ran over to them, digging my hands into my pockets and handed Nudge what was left of our small wad of cash. "You need to be careful okay? You need to look out for each other." I said tearfully to them. Nudge nodded sadly. "Goodbye Max" she whispered.

And then they flew off, over the trees, and away, with Fang. I stared at the tree line, tears flowing freely down my face, my face scrunching up in sadness and frustration.

"Max, I'm sorry." Will piped up. "I'm rea-" but I cut him off, turning towards him.

"Shuttup! This is your... ... If you had just..." I cried to him. "I want to know everything! I want to know, everything they told you at the facility, everything they wanted you to do. I want to know exactly what happened to you while you were gone. I want to know why you wouldn't use your powers in the fight over the channel. I want to know everything! And I want to know now."

Jeb POV

I watched from out of the helicopter as we came into land. The pilot bought us down on top of the not all too noticeable building on the edge of downtown Los Angeles. We had had to move our temporary base of operations to here, seeing as our European, Asian and Australian headquarters had all been destroyed by the impossible Dr.

How he had managed to orchestrate an attack like this, destroying all the buildings and research within the space of a few days was beyond me. The helicopter set down and I was greeted by a young, scrawny man with brown hair and a clipboard. "Hello! Welcome to L.A.! Can I take you're name please?" He asked putting on a pair of glasses and looking at his paperwork.

"Jeb Batchelder." I said to him as he found my name and ticked it off.

"So you're the great Dr. Batchelder I've heard so much about?" he said, staring at me with awe. "I have so many questions I want to ask you. You were the one who cracked the genome code for the avian hybrids weren't you?"

"I'm afraid that would be classified, Dr..." I queried. This man was making me uneasy.

"Yes, quite..." he smiled absently. "Oh! Of course! I'm Dr. Holord. Vincent-Daniel Holord. VD for short. I've been put in charge of helping everyone find their new place of work."

"Yes, well VD, I'd be happy to talk to you about what I can of my work, but I need to go prep my office, I'm expecting someone. Perhaps another time." I explained.

"Oh yes, of course. Another time!" he smiled at me. "You never know, I might run into you later. All over the place today me!" he called to me as I walked through the doors into the building.

* * *

A few hours later, I was in my office, at my desk, when there was a knock at my door.

"Jeb!" Dr. Wilkinson said frantically as he ran through my door.

"By all means, come in." I said cynically, as he brandished a piece of paper at me.

"Sorry, I just thought you should see this." He said handing the paper to me. I looked at it for a second, and then up at Wilkinson. "When did this come in?"

"Just now." He breathed as I re-read what was written.

"Has the Director received a copy of this?" I asked hurriedly.

"No. I figured you'd want to be the one to tell him." He said as I got up and ran out the door. I jogged up to the Directors office and said to the secretary "I need to see him. Now!" She fumbled around and spoke into the intercom,"Jeb is here to see you, Sir. It's urgent."

"Send him in." His authoritative voice answered back.

I quickly pushed open the large doors ahead of me and walked quickly in.

"I was in the middle of a conference call Jeb, this had better be good news!" he said threateningly from behind his desk.

"It is Sir." I said quickly. "We just had a preliminary report in from the chip we implanted in Will. It would appear he has done it.

"Well, I'll be. He actually split up the flock? Do you know how he did it?" he asked, intrigued.

"No Sir that will come in on the full report in a couple of hours. But I think we should begin the next step now Sir. Get a head start."

"By all means. You have the boy yes?" he questioned.

"Well then, I'd get moving wouldn't I?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes Sir." I said, and turned to leave but the Director spoke again.

"Oh, and Jeb. What has become of your son?" he queried.

"We got him too, a bit behind sched-" but the Director cut me off.

"No Jeb, your other son. Lars. What has become of him?" he asked sinisterly

"Oh, Umm..." I muttered, a bit taken aback. "We haven't finished identifying all the bodies from the Channel Fiasco, but due to his... unique physiology and DNA, if he was one of the dead, we would have found him by now. It's likely he got away before things got out of control."

"Very well." The Director said slowly. "I want that report when it comes through Batchelder. That'll be all." And with that I walked out of his office, and back to mine, unsure of what would come next.


	29. From The Top

Chapter 29 – From the Top

Iggy POV

"Look after Max." Nudge whispered in my ear, as she hugged my tightly. "I don't trust him."

"Nothings going to happen, Nudge." I whispered back. "You don't need to do this."

"Yeah, I do." She said simply, and broke off from me. Instantly, I felt someone else grab a hold of me.

"I'll miss you Iggy." Angel sobbed into my shoulder.

"Hey hey, it's okay. We'll see each other soon; nothing can keep the flock apart for long." I reassured her. "You know, if something happens, you just call. Doesn't matter how far away you are, I know you can find us."

"Okay." She said quietly, and then she broke off from me too.

And before I knew, it, they were gone, Max having gone after them for one final goodbye. I listened to their wing beats get quieter and farther, straining to here them for as long as I could.

"Max." I heard Will speak. "I'm Sorry. I'm rea-"

"Shut up!" Max cut him off. "This is your... ...If you had just..." She broke off.

""I want to know everything! I want to know, everything they told you at the facility, everything they wanted you to do. I want to know exactly what happened to you while you were gone. I want to know why you wouldn't use your powers in the fight over the channel. I want to know everything! And I want to know now."

There was silence, except for the harsh breathing of max, who was obviously frustrated. "To be honest Will, so do I." I said to him bluntly. "You owe us as much."

"Okay." Will said, and took a deep breath. "When we were captured, at The Facility, they kept me locked up, in a sort of bunker. It had a wall they could see me through, and talk to me. They kept asking me questions, about my mission, and my objectives, what the plan was. I still don't know for sure what they meant, but I think I was meant to try to split up the flock from the start, from when I first met you. But I Didn't. It probably has something to do with me not remembering anything before I met you."

"So, after a week or so of these questions, I got sick of it, and tried to escape. Well I got as far as the corridor before... I don't know I can't remember that either. But next thing I knew, I was back in the cell. I started to learn to control my powers, hoping to escape again. Then they bought Emily down to see me, with Ari. He said, if I ever wanted to see her alive again, I'd have to split up the flock."

"I had to agree. You know that don't you Max? You know I couldn't let them hurt Emily?" he seemed to ask Max, but she just sighed.

"Just keep talking Will." She said simply.

"Okay, so we set up a fake escape. They knew Gazzy and Iggy were coming, so we waited until they arrived, and they sent me out to lure them in. Everyone was where they needed to be, and was woken up at the right time, for everything to fall in place."

"So the bodies, and the fights. None of it was real?" Max asked.

"Everything down to the blood on my hands was set up. They were even watching Iggy in the cottage." Will explained.

I felt my cheeks blush when he said that. It wasn't comforting to know that they had seen my tantrum in the cottage.

"You know everything else up until I went home. I went to the police station, after I saw a news article about mine and Emily's kidnapping. Back when it happened, it was pretty big news; there was an international search for us and everything." Will continued. "There was a media frenzy when we came back. I claimed I couldn't remember anything, except for a few days before, when I stuck with a group of homeless kids in Birmingham. They kept asking me if I was one of the Bird Kids. You know about the Bird Kids thing yeah? How the newspapers were reporting on you?"

"Yeah we heard." I said. "Had to keep a low profile for ages, get public transport and everything. It sucked. I guess we kind of blew our cover in London though."

"Yeah, well I told them nothing. And they had to believe me. So my parents were fine, we were fine, and life almost went back to normal, except for the fact people kept recognising me on the street. Until I woke up one night, hearing screaming." Will said darkly.

"I went downstairs and... And Ari was there, with Jeb... And they had my parents..." Will broke off, breathing heavily. I heard him sniff his nose. "And they said, they were there, to punish me. And that I still had to complete my mission. And then they killed them." He said, through his teeth. "They _killed _them. Right in front of me. For no reason. My mum was pregnant, and he just..."

We were all silent; all I could hear was Will's strained breaths. That must have been what Angel had seen on the cliff, why Will was so wiped, saying not to make him remember.

"Will?" Max said softly breaking the silence. "You need to keep going. What happened next?"

Max POV

"They _killed_ them. Right in front of me. For no reason." Will said looking out at the trees, tears in his eyes. "My Mum was pregnant, and he just..."

I put my hand to my mouth, shocked. The Whitecoats had done some terrible things before, but this was certainly one of the worst. No wonder Will had come to us.

"Will?" I said, putting my hand on his knee comfortingly. "You need to keep going. What happened next?"

He took a deep breath through his nose, with his jaw clenched, and looked straight into my eyes. "I tried to kill them." He said simply. "But I couldn't do it. I was so close to killing Ari, but the anger, and the power... It was too much. I couldn't do it."

"From then I was kind of on Auto Pilot. Packed mine and Emily's stuff and ran. Just flew along the coast. It just seemed kind of right. Next thing I know, I wake up with you guys."

I looked at him, trying to see if there was something he wasn't telling me, but I could tell he was telling the truth, and nodded to show I understood.

"What about the fight?" Iggy asked suddenly. "Why didn't you help? Why didn't you use your powers?"

Will looked over to him and said coldly. "Because I'm not using my powers again, until I see one of them, Ari and Jeb. And when I do, this time, I_ will_ kill them." I felt a something twang inside me as he said that. Jeb was my father. As much as I hated him for what he has done for him, I don't think I could ever kill him. Or let someone else kill him.

* * *

3 days later we had moved on, and were in the south-west of France, heading towards Spain. We had all gotten pretty sick of flying, and as Emily couldn't fly for long distances at a time, and she'd only let Will carry her, we decided to walk for a bit, through the woodland. Emily kept running ahead and hiding, only to have Iggy sneak up on her, and make her shriek with laughter. I and Will lagged behind, watching them play the game.

"So what do you think their doing? Fang, Nudge and Angel." Will asked me as we trekked along. "Where do you think their going?"

I gave a small laugh and replied, "I honestly couldn't say. Maybe their doing what we're doing. Just going somewhere to relax, and take a break from it all. Somewhere the Whitecoats won't find them. Well if Fang has any sense they will be."

"Does Fang have the sense to do that though?" Will asked me.

"Well, I'd like to think he did. But he was stupid enough to leave us wasn't he..." I trailed off.

"Hey, I just realised, I never thanked you." Will said to me after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Thank me for what?" I frowned.

"For sticking up for me. For choosing me over Fang. You didn't have to do that." Will said looking at the ground, as Emily gave a cry of laughter ahead of us.

"No, it's okay." I said to him, smiling as we stepped over a fallen tree trunk. "Fang was being out of order; I couldn't just stand back and let him act like that. You've got to be stubborn with Fang."

"But still," Will said stopping, and turning to face me. "What you did... You've known Fang you're whole life, and you'd let him leave, for me. It just shows you really care."

I smiled and looked at the ground sheepishly for a second, before looking Will in the eyes, taking hold of his hands comfortingly, and saying, "Well I do care about you Will."

He looked back at me, smiling slightly. Suddenly, it seemed like my mind went onto auto pilot. I gripped Will's hands, moved my head towards his and closed my eyes. Then my lips touched his, and that's when the autopilot turned off. Wait, was I kissing Will?! Then he began kissing me back. He was kissing me back?! I was about to pull out, when I realised I liked it. This is what I wanted wasn't it, what had provoked Fang to leave in the first place. So I pushed my head forward, moving my lips more vigorously.

Suddenly, I heard Emily scream in the distance again, but this time it was a scream of terror rather than laughter. Will broke off from me, letting go of my hands, and stared out into the woods. I somehow managed to stay in the same position as I was, until I heard...

"MAX! WI-!" Iggy shouted urgently from the distance, before being mysteriously cut off mid way.

"EMILY!" Will bellowed.

I found my composure, and got my self moving, shouting "Iggy!" through the trees.

I looked at Will worriedly. "Which way were they?" he asked hurriedly.

"Ummm..." I muttered, trying to strike what had just happened from my head for a few seconds, before pointing to the south-east. "That way."

Will instantly began running to where I pointed, and I stared off at him for a few seconds, before composing myself, and quickly sprinted after him. We ran through the trees as fast as we could, unable to fly because the trees were too close together for our large wings. After about 30 seconds of this, Will came to a halt in an area where the trees lessened.

I stumbled up behind him, slightly out of breath. "Max where are they?!" Will shouted anxiously.

"I don't know!" I cried, scanning the area for any movement, but the trees were still too thick to see very far.

"EMILY!" Will called into the woods. "IGGY!"

"Guys! Where are you!?" I shouted. I heard a slight rustling in the trees above me, and looked up, to see a wolfen figure falling down on top of me.

Will POV

"Guys!" Max shouted, as I scanned the woods around me for any sign of Emily or Iggy. "Where are you!?"

Suddenly, to my left, where Max was standing, there was a loud thud, and a small shriek from Max. I swivelled round, to see an eraser or Flyboy, on top of Max, who was desperately swatting away its claws.

Although I didn't want to use my powers, I was still quite strong as an Avian Human hybrid without them, and I kicked it as hard as I could, causing it to roll off her. I heard a roar above me, and looked up into the tree canopies. I quickly counted 11 of them, no counting the one on the ground. Flyboys, I could tell by their glowing eyes. Before I had time to act, they all leapt off their branches, 2 of them headed straight for me.

I had to dive out of the way, and narrowly avoided being crushed. But before I had time to get up my self, I was pulled up by two of them, both holding onto my arms tightly. I pulled as hard as I could, and kicked at them, but in such close proximity, I couldn't get enough force in my kicks to do any real damage. Another 2 came over, and they pushed me down to the ground roughly, holding me there. I looked over to Max, who was wriggling and writhing, in the same position as me.

Max then looked over to me, worry on her face, and then glanced to my right, and she went wide-eyed, and then stared off angrily. I heard footsteps in the direction she was staring, and then a pair of black shoes walked by me. The flyboys were holding me down, so I wasn't able to look up to see who it was. Whoever it was stopped about 5 yards ahead, with their back to me.

"Hello Max." They said, and I recognised their voice instantly. "Good to see you're okay after the scuffle over the channel." Jeb said, sounding as if he almost meant it. Max just stared at him hatefully, not saying a word.

I heard some struggling behind me, and then Iggy shouting "Get off me!"

"Iggy!" I called to him. "Are you okay?! Where's Emily?!"

"I'm fine!" I heard him reply. "Emily's fine, she's next to me."

"Emily? Are you okay?" I called to her too.

"Will. What's happening?" she replied quietly.

"I don't know. Its okay though, just be calm. You'll be fine." I said as reassuringly as I could.

Jeb turned to face me and bent down so I could see his face. I was glad to see he nose was slightly more crooked than the last time I saw him. "Hello Will. I'm guessing you're not all too happy to see me are you?"

"Oh no." I said, sinisterly, already concentrating. "I'm actually really pleased to see you. You know why?"

Jeb looked at me curiously, and raised an eyebrow as he said, "I'm afraid I don't."

"Because I get to do this..." I said, as I closed my eyes. Almost instantly my eyes snapped back open, and everything was in a red haze. I pushed up off the ground, sending the Flyboys flying as easily as if they were pebbles. I stood on my feet, and shot over to Jeb, before he barely had time to react.

I smacked him in the face, feeling his nose break again beneath my fist. "Because now, I get to use my power." I spoke darkly. I punched him again, sending him to the floor. "Because now..." I said, grabbing the scruff of his neck, "I get to kill you." I hit him again, breaking his glasses, seeing him going into a daze. Then I felt the claws of several flyboys pulling and punching on my back, but I quickly turned and kicked out at them, sending them fling, before turning my attention back to Jeb.

"Will stop!" I heard Max shout but I ignored her, and began pummelling Jeb again. "Will please don't! Will please, he's my father!" I stopped mid punch, and looked up at her, to see her staring at me horrified, still held down by some flyboys. "Please Will." She said, her eyes glistening slightly.

I looked at her for a second, and then glanced back down at Jeb, beaten and bloodied, but still conscious and breathing. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to hurt him so much, to make him pay for what he did to me and Emily. But then I looked at Max. If I did this, to her, I'd be no better than them. I'd be killing her family, just the same as they killed mine. I couldn't do that to her. No matter how hard I wanted to.

I blinked, and my vision returned to normal. I got off Jeb, and slumped down to the floor beside him, as 2 Flyboys quickly took a hold of me. I didn't struggle; I just stared at Jeb hatefully as Jeb shakily got up, and wiped the blood from his face. "What do you want?" I moaned at him, as he knelt back down beside me.

"What I want Will," he said, spitting blood from his mouth, "Is first off, to know I won't hold what you just did against you. And thank you, for not killing me, even though I probably deserve it."

"Yeah, too bloody right you do." I said spitefully.

"Secondly, and more importantly, I'm here to do you a favour." As he said that, he pulled what looked like some kind of medical gun, out of his pocket. "I'm going to inject this serum into your bloodstream Will. They are antibodies, which target artificial material. They will locate your chip, and deactivate it. It should pass through your system within the next few days."

"Chip?" I asked confused. "What chip?"

"The chip we put in you Will. So we could track your movements, and what you were doing. Don't tell me you forgot that too?" He sighed, as he grabbed my arm, and shot me with the gun on the underside of me elbow.

"You kept your word Will, whether you meant to or not. The flock have been split up. We keep our word too. You'll be left alone. All of you." He said, looking over to Max. "You will all be left alone. For now at least." He then stood up and spoke to Max. "Enjoy the next few years of freedom Max. In all likelihood, they will be-"

"AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" came I shrill cry from above, as all of a sudden something crashed into the Flyboys pinning me down. Another shriek came from the sky, as I saw someone crash into the Flyboys who were holding Max down.

Suddenly, I heard a thud and saw Jeb get knocked to the ground beside me. Then someone rolled me over onto my back, and I saw a teenage girl with long brown hair, wearing a black top, who grabbed my hand and said, "Get up Will!" as she dragged me up off the ground. "It's time to go!"


End file.
